[Mageia-dev] alternatives policy

Wed Apr 11 03:18:42 CEST 2012

11.04.2012 04:15, Anssi Hannula kirjoitti:
+> 11.04.2012 03:13, Maarten Vanraes kirjoitti:
+>> Hi,
+>>
+>> from a question someone asked, i was reminded why an alternative file ( 
+>> /var/lib/rpm/alternative/gl_conf ) was not owned.
+>>
+>> I found out that alternative files are usually %ghost 'ed, but it seems not in 
+>> this case.
+>>
+>> I looked at the alternatives policy, but it was empty as it needs yet to be 
+>> written.
+>>
+>> so, is it true that alternative files should be %ghost 'ed? or not?
+> 
+> /var/lib/rpm/alternatives/foo is not an "alternative file" (at least not
+> IMHO), but an internal update-alternaties db, so it is not ghosted.
+> 
+> It is automatically removed by update-alternatives when it becomes empty
+> (i.e. all packages providing the alternative have been removed).
+> 
+> There is one problem regarding this, though. If the files becomes
+> corrupted, the alternatives system becomes kind of stuck... IMO it
+> should zero/drop the /var/lib/rpm/alternatives/foo on error (possibly
+> with a backup). AFAICS this would mean changing the badfmt() error
+> handler in /usr/sbin/update-alternatives to remove/move the file and
+> changing the open(AF, "$admindir/$name") loop starting in line 135 to
+> handle errors gracefully...
+
+Sorry, I changed my mind while writing the above paragraph so it got a
+bit confused. I meant that in case of syntax error, a warning is printed
+out (and possibly a backup of the file made) instead of aborting like
+the script currently does (no zeroing/dropping the file necessary). The
+old file will be overwritten later in the script when the configuration
+is written back.
+
+-- 
+Anssi Hannula
+