[Fedora-packaging] Re: Proposal to limit file deps
Fernando Nasser
fnasser at redhat.com
Thu Dec 21 17:13:43 UTC 2006
Rex Dieter wrote:
> Fernando Nasser wrote:
>> I have two questions:
>>
>> 1) If this is a problem that only affects yum and all the other
>> depsolvers do it efficiently, would it be better to fix yum instead or
>> working around it by spec file changes?
>
> It's still generally a good idea to minimize file deps.
>
Sure, but there are cases where it is desirable. I am afraid a dull
guideline will put a straight jacket on developers.
For instance, I know a couple of folks working on a software that in the
current release needs two independent packages. Another developer needs
one (a single one) file from them, but the file may change places. They
thought of adding a virtual provides, but it seems overkill in this case
and it is probably only temporary (which would mean we would use a name
unnecessarily and regret later). So the best way around it was to
require the file, at least until the set of packages stabilize on a
future version of the dependency.
Perhaps a "recommendation" guideline? (if there is such a thing)
>> 2) If we still use file deps for things in /bin /sbin /usr/bin
>> /usr/sbin, which happens for all GCJ compiled packages, wouldn't it
>> force the reading of the second file anyways?
>
> No, just for items *outside* of those locations does yum need extra
> processing. That's the whole point of this exercise.
>
Ah, thanks for the clarification. The use of file deps prevents an
optimization to kick in.
Is this list complete: /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin ?
Or there are others that do not cause the loading of the second file?
Regards,
Fernando
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