Alex Efros wrote:
> Yeah, this is truth. I've tried to install only security updates for
> about a year, and after ~8 month I found it impossible to continue
> installing security updates without updating some packages I don't wanna
> update at that time... and some time later - without toolchain upgrade
> and complete system recompilation as result.
> So, I think not using ~arch and (in critical cases) freezing versions
> of some important packages (like MySQL) PLUS continuously updates is best
> way to ensure server security and stability.
Disappearing packages, especially ones being used in production, have really
bitten me in the ass. Kernels and dropped versions of vmware-workstation
come to mind...
I get around this problem by patching in a "--nodelete" option for emerge.
It is a very simple hack, all it does is _not_ add the --delete --force
--delete-after arguments to rsync if I run emerge --sync --nodelete.
Attached is a patch for emerge and emergehelp.py (portage-2.0.54) that adds
this option, if anyone is interested.
To apply:
# cd /usr/lib/portage/bin
# patch -bp0 </wherever/emerge-nodelete.patch
# cd /usr/lib/portage/pym
# patch -bp0 </wherever/emergehelp-nodelete.patch
The second patch just adds a description of the argument to emerge --help...
Index: emerge
===================================================================
--- emerge (revision 2)
+++ emerge (working copy)
@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@
"--getbinpkg", "--getbinpkgonly",
"--help", "--noconfmem",
"--newuse", "--nocolor",
+"--nodelete",
"--nodeps", "--noreplace",
"--nospinner", "--oneshot",
"--onlydeps", "--pretend",
@@ -2428,10 +2429,7 @@
"--perms", # Preserve permissions
"--times", # Preserive mod times
"--compress", # Compress the data transmitted
- "--force", # Force deletion on non-empty dirs
"--whole-file", # Don't do block transfers, only entire files
- "--delete", # Delete files that aren't in the master tree
- "--delete-after", # Delete only after everything else is done
"--stats", # Show final statistics about what was transfered
"--timeout="+str(mytimeout), # IO timeout if not done in X seconds
"--exclude='/distfiles'", # Exclude distfiles from consideration
@@ -2450,6 +2448,11 @@
if "--debug" in myopts:
rsync_flags.append("--checksum") # Force checksum on all files
+ if not "--nodelete" in myopts:
+ rsync_flags.append("--force") # Force deletion on non-empty dirs
+ rsync_flags.append("--delete") # Delete files that aren't in the master tree
+ rsync_flags.append("--delete-after") # Delete only after everything else is done
+
if portage.settings.has_key("RSYNC_EXCLUDEFROM"):
if os.path.exists(portage.settings["RSYNC_EXCLUDEFROM"]):
rsync_flags.append("--exclude-from="+portage.settings["RSYNC_EXCLUDEFROM"])
Index: emergehelp.py
===================================================================
--- emergehelp.py (revision 5)
+++ emergehelp.py (working copy)
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
print bold("Usage:")
print " "+turquoise("emerge")+" [ "+green("options")+" ] [ "+green("action")+" ] [ "+turquoise("ebuildfile")+" | "+turquoise("tbz2file")+" | "+turquoise("dependency")+" ] [ ... ]"
print " "+turquoise("emerge")+" [ "+green("options")+" ] [ "+green("action")+" ] < "+turquoise("system")+" | "+turquoise("world")+" >"
- print " "+turquoise("emerge")+" < "+turquoise("--sync")+" | "+turquoise("--metadata")+" | "+turquoise("--info")+" >"
+ print " "+turquoise("emerge")+" < "+turquoise("--sync")+" [ "+green("--nodelete")+" ] | "+turquoise("--metadata")+" | "+turquoise("--info")+" >"
print " "+turquoise("emerge")+" "+turquoise("--resume")+" [ "+green("--pretend")+" | "+green("--ask")+" | "+green("--skipfirst")+" ]"
print " "+turquoise("emerge")+" "+turquoise("--help")+" [ "+green("system")+" | "+green("config")+" | "+green("sync")+" ] "
print bold("Options:")+" "+green("-")+"["+green("abcCdDefhikKlnNoOpPsSuUvV")+"] ["+green("--oneshot")+"] ["+green("--newuse")+"] ["+green("--noconfmem")+"]"
@@ -202,6 +202,12 @@
print " of accidental deletion. With this option, files will always be"
print " merged to the live fs instead of silently dropped."
print
+ print " "+green("--nodelete")
+ print " Normally during an "+bold("emerge --sync")+" the sync will delete"
+ print " local copies of files that are no longer in the master tree. The"
+ print " "+bold("--nodelete")+" argument will prevent the rsync from deleting"
+ print " any files."
+ print
print " "+green("--nodeps")+" ("+green("-O")+" short option)"
print " Merge specified packages, but don't merge any dependencies."
print " Note that the build may fail if deps aren't satisfied."
