[to debian-devel only] On 2024-03-01 10:13:18 +0100, Helmut Grohne wrote: > On Thu, Feb 29, 2024 at 06:53:56AM +0100, Paul Gevers wrote: > > Well, officially downgrading isn't supported (although it typically works) > > *and* losing files is one of the problems of our merged-/usr solution (see > > [1]). I *suspect* this might be the cause. We're working hard (well, helmut > > is) to protect us and our users from loosing files on upgrades. We don't > > protect against downgrades. > > As much as we like blaming all lost files on the /usr-move, this is not > one them. If you are downgrading from to a package that formerly has > been replaced, you always have lost files and you always had to > reinstall the package.
In the past, when I asked why downgrading wasn't supported, i.e. the possible issues with downgrading, I was answered something about the files handled by maintainer scripts, which is fairly understandable (BTW, this is mentioned at [1], with an example). But no documented issues with the files directly provided by the packages, like library files (from what I could see about the complaints). Indeed, I thought that the presence of /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.md5sums would be sufficient to detect issues. So, what's the point of these files? [1] https://wiki.debian.org/MaintainerScripts -- Vincent Lefèvre <vinc...@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/> 100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <https://www.vinc17.net/blog/> Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / AriC project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)