Re: NFS and debian packaging system

1997-04-18 Thread Andreas Tille
On Thu, 17 Apr 1997, Portuesi Simone wrote:

 The problem is that I would like to reduce workarounds as much as
 possible as I'me not the only one to administrate it. Probably the best
 solution is to un-mount the shared partitions when removing packages,
 but:
What parts do you want to share??? I try to share
/usr
parts of /var
/home (in the future)
How to unmount /usr while installing/uninstalling?? 

  I don't know how dpkg and dselect are going to react to this.
If I would be dpkg I would complain about a unmounted /usr ;-).
 
 Yep, I think I can, I just wanted to make installation as clean as
 possible as University installation with many people administrating or
 working at root level  (S.O. and network) experimenting tend to enhance
In my opinion a System can't only be as clean as possible if only one
adminitrator (may be two if the main administrator is absend) does the
job. I think your idea will lead to a confusing system.

 over time all the initial installation flaws, thats why we chose debian
 (as well with others considarations), it's packaging system permits to
 renew and maintain installations at lower risks. 
I think that's the right choice :-).
 
Andreas.


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Re: NFS and debian packaging system

1997-04-18 Thread Portuesi Simone
Andreas Tille wrote:
 
 On Thu, 17 Apr 1997, Portuesi Simone wrote:
 

 What parts do you want to share??? I try to share
 /usr
 parts of /var
 /home (in the future)
 How to unmount /usr while installing/uninstalling??

I wanted to share man pages, info files, and /usr/doc, just to save
10-20 Mb. 


 If I would be dpkg I would complain about a unmounted /usr ;-).


But it'll complaint for a non mounted /usr/man?
 
  Yep, I think I can, I just wanted to make installation as clean as
  possible as University installation with many people administrating or
  working at root level  (S.O. and network) experimenting tend to enhance
 In my opinion a System can't only be as clean as possible if only one
 adminitrator (may be two if the main administrator is absend) does the
 job. I think your idea will lead to a confusing system.

You are right, but the current and future use contrasts this.
Theoricaly, theory and practice are the same, in practice they are
different. 


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Re: NFS and debian packaging system

1997-04-17 Thread Portuesi Simone
Andreas Tille wrote:
 
 On Wed, 16 Apr 1997, Portuesi Simone wrote:
 
  I've to install debian linux in 4 PCs here at the university (now they
  have an old slackware). My idea was to have one of them to export users
  and their directories plus a directory with apps not in the debian
  distribution (a sort of non-local). Up to here no problems arise.
  But I'd like also to share man pages, info files and documentation
  across the 4 systems but that will break the packaging handling of
  Debian (ex. removing a package in one PC will remouve all the
  documentation  and help on the others), is there a work-around?
  In particular is there a way to inform the debian packaging system of
  shared files ?
 I maintain a Debian system with a workstation as NFS server. That means
 the /usr tree resides on a drive mounted via NFS (ro) and some
 parts of var resides also there. I linked /var/texmf and /var/catman
 on a NFS mounted drive (rw). This works fine for me and I'm intended
 to use this server from several other Linux PCs (but not tried yet).
 
 I have to mention that I had serious trouble while installing and
 if you have problems don't hesitate to ask me special problems.
 But once installed (using some tricky workarounds) it works fine
 (but slightly slower).
 

The problem is that I would like to reduce workarounds as much as
possible as I'me not the only one to administrate it. Probably the best
solution is to un-mount the shared partitions when removing packages,
but:

 I don't know how dpkg and dselect are going to react to this.

When installing poackages  unmounting is not strictly neccesaire, but
it'll be safe to unmount it and the compare the files installed withe
the new ones. Anyway the shared parts are not in anyway vital
(documantation, mans and info)

  Also is there a method to install part of a Debian package in a
  different directory? (I think the only one is to modify packages by
  hand).
 That's not necessary in any way.  The only thing is to link some
 files in /etc to a common tree but I think this is not necessary
 and too much work.

  Even if it is complex it would be nice if future versions of Debian
  would permit such kind of installation or have tools to permit it.

It was just a proposal. Having such feature will make this kind of
installation simpler. Thus making all the debian installation more
flexible. 


 OK, tell me your problem. I think you will cope with them with the
 actual version. 

Yep, I think I can, I just wanted to make installation as clean as
possible as University installation with many people administrating or
working at root level  (S.O. and network) experimenting tend to enhance
over time all the initial installation flaws, thats why we chose debian
(as well with others considarations), it's packaging system permits to
renew and maintain installations at lower risks. 

 Andreas.

Thanks , 
Simone Portuesi 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


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NFS and debian packaging system

1997-04-16 Thread Portuesi Simone
I've to install debian linux in 4 PCs here at the university (now they
have an old slackware). My idea was to have one of them to export users
and their directories plus a directory with apps not in the debian
distribution (a sort of non-local). Up to here no problems arise.
But I'd like also to share man pages, info files and documentation
across the 4 systems but that will break the packaging handling of
Debian (ex. removing a package in one PC will remouve all the
documentation  and help on the others), is there a work-around?
In particular is there a way to inform the debian packaging system of
shared files ? 

Also is there a method to install part of a Debian package in a
different directory? (I think the only one is to modify packages by
hand).

Even if it is complex it would be nice if future versions of Debian
would permit such kind of installation or have tools to permit it.

Simone Portuesi
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


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Re: NFS and debian packaging system

1997-04-16 Thread Andreas Tille
On Wed, 16 Apr 1997, Portuesi Simone wrote:

 I've to install debian linux in 4 PCs here at the university (now they
 have an old slackware). My idea was to have one of them to export users
 and their directories plus a directory with apps not in the debian
 distribution (a sort of non-local). Up to here no problems arise.
 But I'd like also to share man pages, info files and documentation
 across the 4 systems but that will break the packaging handling of
 Debian (ex. removing a package in one PC will remouve all the
 documentation  and help on the others), is there a work-around?
 In particular is there a way to inform the debian packaging system of
 shared files ? 
I maintain a Debian system with a workstation as NFS server. That means
the /usr tree resides on a drive mounted via NFS (ro) and some
parts of var resides also there. I linked /var/texmf and /var/catman
on a NFS mounted drive (rw). This works fine for me and I'm intended
to use this server from several other Linux PCs (but not tried yet).

I have to mention that I had serious trouble while installing and
if you have problems don't hesitate to ask me special problems.
But once installed (using some tricky workarounds) it works fine
(but slightly slower).
 
 Also is there a method to install part of a Debian package in a
 different directory? (I think the only one is to modify packages by
 hand).
That's not necessary in any way.  The only thing is to link some
files in /etc to a common tree but I think this is not necessary
and too much work.
 
 Even if it is complex it would be nice if future versions of Debian
 would permit such kind of installation or have tools to permit it.
OK, tell me your problem. I think you will cope with them with the
actual version.

Andreas.



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