On May 28, Ian Jackson wrote > > Do dpkg-ftp or dpkg-mountable modify /var/lib/dpkg/available > directly ?
I doubt it. Certainly dpkg-mountable never modifies any system files directly, since (as I'm sure you're aware) this is a rather silly thing to do, and IIRC from reading the dpkg-ftp source that doesn't either. In fact, I believe that dpkg-ftp keeps it's own copy of the available packages database, totally seperate from dpkg's. Yes, I do *read* the available file, as well as the status file. But all writing is done via dpkg, as it should be. [snip: this could be the problem] > If a dselect method script just copies the file instead then dpkg > doesn't get a chance to do this check. Perhaps someone decided that > the 0.0000001 second saved by not having to parse the file is worth > the extra hassle for the users of having their dpkg broken, or that > they didn't understand the --merge-available or --update-available > functions so clearly they should just bypass them. Do I detect a hint of sarcasm there? dpkg-mountable should never have been written in the first place. But the functionality it provides was sorely needed, and so I adapted a script which I had been using locally for a while, packaged it up, and uploaded it for the benefit of others. Yes, it is faster than the `standard' methods, or was last time I compared; yes, I do happen to think that this is a good thing. But I would like to point out that if I was purely after speed, I wouldn't have written in Perl; dpkg-mountable exists because it provides features (logging, md5 checking, parallel trees) that dselect doesn't, not simply because it's a little faster (I'm not even sure if it is any more, I haven't checked since v0.2). > Perhaps dpkg should encrypt /var/lib/dpkg/* to stop random packages > from messing with it ? Yes, that's a good idea. Really. I don't find it at all useful to grep the available packages file, or to modify package scripts that don't work. If you had approached me politely, I would be more than happy to explain what I've done; I would still be happy to do so. Had you limited this post to asking whether or not this could be the problem, I could have replied simply that it wasn't. But I found the second half of your post offensive, and totally unnecessary. If you still have a problem with this, please respond by private email. Somewhat miffed, Andy Mortimer Author, dpkg-mountable. -- Andy Mortimer, [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.poboxes.com/andy.mortimer PGP public key available on key servers -- To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that death of sleep what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .