On 16/12/2023 15:59, Stefan Monnier wrote:
AFAICT, all of `/var/lib/apt/lists` is made of files fetched from repositories, which APT will re-fetch if missing. So, it sounds to me like it belongs in `/var/cache/apt/lists`, really. What am I missing? Or is it just a historical accident?Stefan "whose `/var/lib/apt/lists` is a symlink into /`var/cache`"
I would imagine that it's due to the FHS (Filesystem Hierarchy Standard) which defines what the various directories on a "typical Linux system" are for. "man hier", for example, tells me that:
* /var/cache - Data cached for programs. * /var/lib - Variable state information for programs.So, apt seems to be doing the right thing here. /var/cache is where the cached packages are stores, but /var/lib is where the state of the repositories is stored. Admittedly, the state of the repositories is cached information, but recall that apt is essentially just a network fetcher/cacher. dpkg would be the ultimate arbiter of the state of the system, so apt's state is more like the state of the repositories.
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