On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 09:32:41PM -0500, Gunnar Wolf wrote: > Tzafrir Cohen dijo [Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 07:08:05AM +0000]: > > > > - Having files *vital* to the system not tracked by dpkg is > > > > counter-productive. At the very least it thwarts the most basic and > > > > obvious way of integrity protection. > > > > > > Dpkg is not tripwire. If you think you can rely on dpkg for checking > > > data integrity, you are fooling yourself. > > > > Many of those modules distributed by dkms are ones that the user is also > > likely to try installing on his own from source. debsums helps answering > > the question: "oh here's a little module, I wonder where it came from?" > > > > Do not assume everybody maintaining the system know of dkms (or of m-a > > or such). Knowledge of debsums or equivalent should be assumed from > > anybody maintaining a Debian system.
Correction: that question is naturally answered by dpkg -S . debsums helps confirm this. > > What does "maintain" mean to you? Do you think that everybody who > bought a Nokia 810 tablet or similar uses it on a daily basis? They > _are_ maintained a Debian-based system. Do regular Ubuntu desktop > users know (or care) about it? Do you want to have a build system on your Nokia 810? Or put the relevant modules in a repository? An Ubuntu Desktop user who was tempted to install Nvidia drivers from source (yes, I saw such suggestions over the 'net) would be in a better position when asking support in a forum. You see, when you have multiple modules of the same name in the modules directory (/lib/modules/<kernel-version>) , the output of modinfo can be misleading: the module listed by modinfo is not necesserily the one that will get loaded by modprobe. I've had all sort of such spooky situations. In such a cases I can normally guess by the time and version field where thtat module comes from, and likewise, by the subdirectory. But I see no reason every user will need my experience. I see no reason some random Joe at the forrum answering the suer's questions should need to do more guesswork. -- Tzafrir Cohen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | VIM is http://tzafrir.org.il | | a Mutt's [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | best ICQ# 16849754 | | friend -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]