[Fedora-packaging] Guidelines#DuplicateFiles clarification

[Michael Schwendt]

On Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:14:37 -0800, Toshio wrote:

> >> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#DuplicateFiles:
> >>
> >> A Fedora package must not contain any duplicate files in the %files
> >> listing.
> > 
> > What exactly does that refer to?
> > 
> > Only the rpmbuild "warning: File listed twice ..."?
> > Or actual files included in multiple %files sections for (sub-)packages?
> > 
> > The latter is not detected by rpmbuild.
> > 
> I'm not quite sure of the scope of the question or of the answer.

Let me rephrase then for another try:

What are packagers and reviewers supposed to check in order to satisfy
above guideline?


rpmbuild prints a warning for files/dirs which are listed more than once
in _the same_ %files section.

However, rpmbuild does not notice if files/dirs are listed _in multiple_
%files sections. Not even %doc files.


Conclusively, only paying attention to rpmbuild's warnings is easy (a
SHOULD guideline would suffice), but doesn't yield much. It only helps
with subsequent packaging mistakes (such as moving one %files entry to
another subpackage while keeping the duplicated entry in the old package).

That does not cover the worse case, i.e. because files duplicated in
multiple %files sections are not detected by rpmbuild => the reviewer must
examine package contents (with rpmls e.g.) manually.


[There's even a third case: Programs that load and display documentation
files. Then, files included via %doc are also installed and expected in
different directories. Packager should not simply remove duplicated files
without verifying that the documentation can still be displayed from within
the program.]


> My interpretation is that this is for a single file listed in the %file(s)
> section of a package and its sub-packages more than once.

That would be both cases I cover above.

Any suggestion for a better wording of the current guideline?
In particular, it refers to "the %files listing" (singular!) and
not all %files listings [including subpackages].

 
> Files duplicated between distinct SRPM's would be part of the Conflicts
> Guideline instead.

Yes, that's something else.