Hi,
>>"Rob" == Rob Browning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Rob> The question is, "who owns /usr/src, Debian or the local
Rob> sysadmin?"
Rob> A recent run-in with the latest pre-release libc6 packages made
Rob> me realize that I hadn't fully considered the role of /usr/src on
Rob> a Debian system.
The vendor, I think. kernel-header-x.xx and kernel-source
packages have always assumed ownership of /usr/src; this is not a new
libc6 thing.
Rob> In general, I had always considered Debian as "owning" everything
Rob> outside /usr/local, /usr/src, and /home. By "owning" I mean that
Rob> I if I did anything fancy in the regions that belong to Debian, I
Rob> should expect that work might get clobbered later by new Debian
Rob> packages, or updates to existing packages.
I think /usr/local and /home are indeed exempt.
Rob> Unfortunately, kernel-headers, which I had to install for the
Rob> first time because of a dependency from the upcoming libc6-dev
Rob> package, clobbered my existing *local* kernel source tree headers
Rob> by writing to /usr/src/linux which was already a link I had
Rob> created to /usr/src/linux-2.1.73.
I find this hard to believe. kernel-headers and kernel-source
packages write to the directories kernel-headers-X.X.XX and
kernel-source-X.X.XX. They create symbolic links /usr/src/linux and
/usr/src/linux-X.X.Xx.
They most certainly do not clobber existing local headers in
/usr/src/linux!!
Rob> kernel-headers is not the only package claiming space in /usr/src
Rob> that might conflict with current practices; pcmcia-source does as
Rob> well.
Current [ractices, as far as debian is concerned, is that
debian owns /usr/src. This has been the case since April 1996 (that's
1.75 years now!)
Rob> I really only see two possible choices.
Rob> 1) Flatly state /usr/src/ is owned by Debian. I.e. it is no
Rob> safer to put anything there than in /bin. If you want to put
Rob> something in /usr/src/ (because you're building kernels with
Rob> kernel-package or whatever), you should use /usr/local/src/
Rob> instead. This policy, if adopted, will have to be *heavily*
Rob> advertised.
I think this is the case. This is not new, (21 months is old
in the Debian world); but I do agree this needs to be better
advertized.
manoj
--
The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is
comprehensible. Albert Einstein
Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
Key C7261095 fingerprint = CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E
--
TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
