On Fri, 7 Feb 2003, Wolfe, Gordon W wrote: > If we could just have rpm search one shared global rpm database and one > local rpm database (with all local updates being added to the local > database and the global database being the local database for the master > server), that would solve all my problems.
Folks, don't think I'm being a wet blanket here, but I don't think that enabling RPM to do this kind of thing will help us... Picture a situation similar to that which John S described earlier. A particular guest installs a certain version of a particular package (A) to their local RPM database, to get a later version than the one in the 'master system'. Our RPM modifications will let us do that. However, what happens later when we update package A on the master? Or worse, update a different package that has a dependency on the particular version of package A in our master... Do we then run around all of our guests and try to satisfy broken dependencies? Not sure if this was postulated on the previous occasions this did the rounds, but I'm thinking that a centralised database that covers all the software on all guests would be one way to go. The database keeps track of what packages make up the base build, and what differences exist from one guest to the next. This would allow a lot of control, too: you could report on how far various guests deviate from the standard, and specify that certain packages be locked (i.e. can not be updated 'locally'). I don't know if the software distribution packages out there do this kind of thing already. My $0.02 (worth slightly less than usual, as I'm in NZ) Cheers, Vic Cross
