On Tue, 7 Nov 2000, James R. Van Zandt wrote:
>> dpkg lacks quite a bit of the power of RPM when it comes to
>> querying installed packages. There is no way to select packages
>> based on a file owned, for example.
>
> vanzandt:/tmp$ dpkg --search /bin/fgrep
> grep: /bin/fgrep
No. That tells me what package owns the /bin/fgrep file. It does not
*select that package for querying*. For example, I can do this
rpm -qlf /bin/fgrep
to see what files are related to "fgrep". In Debian, I need two commands.
(Yes, this is a trivial example. More sophisticated uses exist.)
>> There is no way to verify the integrity of installed packages at
>> all, as near as I could tell.
>
> debsums can check md5sums ...
That's not too bad, though not as polished as "rpm -Va" is, for example.
> Sounds like you were not using apt-get, which does a better job of
> ordering than dpkg alone.
I was using the "apt" source in "dselect"... is that not the same?
> However, there are also loops in the dependency graph, which make a fully
> automated solution difficult.
Bingo. It doesn't matter what the reason is, if the "fully automated
solution" doesn't work, it doesn't work. You just blew the main reason I was
attracted to Debian (the much-hyped package management system) clear out of
the water. I might as well stick with rpmfind.
>> apt seemed to be brain damaged when it came to source selection.
>> Even if the latest version of a package was already available on the
>> CD-ROM, it still kept insisting on getting it from the Debian
>> servers.
>
> This requires proper configuration of /etc/apt/sources.list. "man
> sources.list".
I read the man page and tried tweaking sources.list in several ways, but
always got the same behavior. In the end, I had to resort to commenting out
the network sources whenever I wanted to install from CD-ROM. :-(
> A means for tracking build-time dependencies has been chosen
> (Build-Depends lines in the control file), but not all packages have
> them yet.
Yeah... in general, it seems like RPM has a more sophisticated system for
managing package sources. Not that I build RPMs from source all that often,
but there have been times where those features were very nice to have.
> Yes. I perceive the Debian priorities as: flexibility first, long-term
> ease of administration second, and ease of installation a distant third.
Unfortunately, those second and third goals are the priorities of people
using the systems to actually get stuff done, both on the desktop and on
servers. "Real work" and all that. ;-)
I can see definite appeal to those developing, experimenting, or learning,
though. For example, one of the things on my long-term to-do list is to
compare-and-contrast various mailing list management packages. Debian's
approach of kind of "introducing you" to the packages you just installed would
be perfect for that sort of situation.
> It would be nice to have an option "remind me to fix this later".
That's got my vote! :-)
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Net Technologies, Inc. <http://www.ntisys.com>
Voice: (800)905-3049 x18 Fax: (978)499-7839
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