Bug#329422: No warnings when uninstalling kernel package
reassign 329422 kernel-package thanks On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 08:17:48AM -0400, Joe Mason wrote: On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 03:10:47PM +0900, Horms wrote: Could you please send your reply to the bug, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Oops, didn't realize Reply-To wasn't set. Here it is: Thanks, an easy trap to fall into. On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 12:34:59AM -0400, Joe Mason wrote: On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 12:20:52PM +0900, Horms wrote: The problem here is that Debian implicitly supports having multiple kernel packages and in fact no kernel packages installed to allow users to provide their own kernels. It might be prudent to document this feature somewhere, but I don't think its a bug in the kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686, or any other kernel package. Perhaps apt should be able to notice when a kernel is being removed, and either print a generic warning (You're removing a kernel image! Please make sure this is not the kernel you're actually running! - this is my preferred solution) or actually check uname -a and print a more specific warning (You're about to remove the kernel you're currently running - this is only safe if you have set up your bootloader to load a different kernel at the next boot) or even check the grub/lilo conf, although that last is going a bit beyond the call of duty. That way at least a new user who doesn't know what a kernel-image package is gets a warning. Documenting it in a way that isn't presented by apt when you actually try to uninstall it wouldn't be very useful, I don't think. As I said, apt still always gives the opportunity to type I know what I'm doing if you know it's actually safe to uninstall the kernel package, so I think printing the current danger warning wouldn't violate the policy of allowing multiple kernel-images, although having a slightly different error message would probably be clearer. I think prompting the user in such a way is an excellent idea, actually perhaps it already does but its not working for some reason. In any case, that kind of functionality would almost certainly belong in kernel-package. I am reassigning the bug accordingly so Manoj, the kernel-package can add handle this as he sees best. -- Horms -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Bug#329422: No warnings when uninstalling kernel package
On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 03:10:47PM +0900, Horms wrote: Could you please send your reply to the bug, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Oops, didn't realize Reply-To wasn't set. Here it is: On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 12:34:59AM -0400, Joe Mason wrote: On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 12:20:52PM +0900, Horms wrote: The problem here is that Debian implicitly supports having multiple kernel packages and in fact no kernel packages installed to allow users to provide their own kernels. It might be prudent to document this feature somewhere, but I don't think its a bug in the kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686, or any other kernel package. Perhaps apt should be able to notice when a kernel is being removed, and either print a generic warning (You're removing a kernel image! Please make sure this is not the kernel you're actually running! - this is my preferred solution) or actually check uname -a and print a more specific warning (You're about to remove the kernel you're currently running - this is only safe if you have set up your bootloader to load a different kernel at the next boot) or even check the grub/lilo conf, although that last is going a bit beyond the call of duty. That way at least a new user who doesn't know what a kernel-image package is gets a warning. Documenting it in a way that isn't presented by apt when you actually try to uninstall it wouldn't be very useful, I don't think. As I said, apt still always gives the opportunity to type I know what I'm doing if you know it's actually safe to uninstall the kernel package, so I think printing the current danger warning wouldn't violate the policy of allowing multiple kernel-images, although having a slightly different error message would probably be clearer. Joe -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Bug#329422: No warnings when uninstalling kernel package
Package: kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686 Version: 2.6.8-16 Severity: critical Most of the time when I try to uninstall a package that's critical to system functionality, it tells me I'm about to uninstall a core component and asks me to type, Yes I know what I'm doing or similar to continue. $ sudo apt-get remove bash Reading Package Lists... Done Building Dependency Tree... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: bash hal hotplug udev WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing! bash 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 4 to remove and 123 not upgraded. Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 3523kB disk space will be freed. You are about to do something potentially harmful To continue type in the phrase 'Yes, do as I say!' ?] n Abort. Imagine my surprise, then, when I did this: $ sudo apt-get remove dash Reading Package Lists... Done Building Dependency Tree... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: dash initrd-tools kernel-image-2.6-686 kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 4 to remove and 121 not upgraded. Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 45.6MB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n Abort. Now, I haven't actually verified that removing kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686 (which does contain the running kernel, yes) will break my system, but I'd be astonished if it didn't. (To be more precise, while removing vmlinuz shouldn't matter until I try to run lilo again, it also contains the /lib/modules directory.) I think a kernel image should be treated like a core package, requiring extra confirmation to uninstall. (Maybe it's more complicated, since a given kernel may not actually be the one that's running, but the user can always just type the full confirmation phrase to get around this, so if it's easier to implement I think it should just default to requiring extra confirmation.) I've classed this critical since it has the potential to make the system unusable if the user is not paying attention and hits Y (which would have been easy in this case, since dash seems like it would be just another shell). Probably the maintainers would class it less serious since the situation wouldn't come up very often, but I'll let them downgrade it if they feel its appropriate. -- System Information: Debian Release: testing/unstable APT prefers testing APT policy: (500, 'testing') Architecture: i386 (i686) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash Kernel: Linux 2.6.8-2-686 Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968) Versions of packages kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686 depends on: ii coreutils [fileutils] 5.2.1-2The GNU core utilities ii fileutils 5.2.1-2The GNU file management utilities ii initrd-tools 0.1.81.1 tools to create initrd image for p ii module-init-tools 3.2-pre8-1 tools for managing Linux kernel mo kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686 recommends no packages. -- no debconf information -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Bug#329422: No warnings when uninstalling kernel package
The problem here is that Debian implicitly supports having multiple kernel packages and in fact no kernel packages installed to allow users to provide their own kernels. It might be prudent to document this feature somewhere, but I don't think its a bug in the kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686, or any other kernel package. -- Horms -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
