> > I have to take exception with previous statements about a lack of central > package tracking in debian-based distros. This is completely false. The > /var/lib/dpkg directory is used exactly for that purpose. This way all of > the apt-based (which as previously pointed out is all dpkg-based anyway) > can query any installed package and do stuff with it. > > To prove it to yourself strace some dpkg or apt commands. > strace -o /tmp/dpkg.out dpkg -l >/dev/null && less /tmp/dpkg.out > strace -o /tmp/dpkg.out dpkg --get-selections >/dev/null && less > /tmp/dpkg.out > strace -o /tmp/dpkg.out apt-cache search chrome >/dev/null && less > /tmp/dpkg.out > > You'll notice that with any of these commands that they open() and read() > /var/lib/dpkg/status among others files. > > I agree. You can also test this by having dpkg running and attempt to run any other pkg mgmt tool.
I reread the original post and subsequent responses. To be sure, for any Debian based distro there is only 1 package management *system* and that is dpkg which uses ".deb" package files. There are however many different Debian package management systems such as Apt, Aptitude, Synaptic, tasksel, and dselect. What I was taught was to use dpkg as much as possible to mitigate communication and sync errors between it and other package mgmt tools. But often times when I'm following a tutorial on how to do something or showing a less experienced friend how to do things I will use different pkg mgmt tools. You can use all the other tools in addition to dpkg but you can't use them w/o dpkg being called into use. And just because some writes a higher level more user friendly tool doesn't mean they know how the lower level tool works in totality and can write a program that won't corrupt or be out of sync with the lower level tool. On at least a few occasions, I've gotten different information in respect to what's installed and what's not between different pkg mgmt systems. So while I think it's reasonable to expect dpkg to know about any and all software pkgs installed by other pkg mgmt tools, I also think it's just as reasonable to expect that if you're using a few different pkg mgmt tools that somewhere along the way things are going to get out of sync. _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
