(→Examples: add %install section to examples) |
(→Use of alternatives: require touching the original file locations) |
||
Line 10: | Line 10: | ||
Alternatives can be used to allow parallel installation of packages which provide the same functionality and can be used as a drop-in replacement (for example: the various MTAs which all provide <code>/usr/sbin/sendmail</code>). | Alternatives can be used to allow parallel installation of packages which provide the same functionality and can be used as a drop-in replacement (for example: the various MTAs which all provide <code>/usr/sbin/sendmail</code>). | ||
If a package is using alternatives, the files which would otherwise conflict must be installed with an appropriate suffix (for example: <code>%{_sbindir}/sendmail.postfix</code> instead of <code>%{_sbindir}/sendmail</code>), the links set up by alternatives must be listed as %ghost in the file list and proper Requires: must be added, like in the examples below. | If a package is using alternatives, the files which would otherwise conflict must be installed with an appropriate suffix (for example: <code>%{_sbindir}/sendmail.postfix</code> instead of <code>%{_sbindir}/sendmail</code>), the original locations must be touched (for example: <code>touch %{_sbindir}/sendmail</code>), the links set up by alternatives must be listed as %ghost in the file list and proper Requires: must be added, like in the examples below. | ||
Putting the alternativized files in the file list ensures that they are owned by respective packages, which means that commands like: | Putting the alternativized files in the file list ensures that they are owned by respective packages, which means that commands like: |
Revision as of 20:44, 7 April 2009
Existing guideline
None.
Proposal
Following change to Packaging Guidelines is proposed: Add a section Use of alternatives which would read:
Use of alternatives
Alternatives can be used to allow parallel installation of packages which provide the same functionality and can be used as a drop-in replacement (for example: the various MTAs which all provide /usr/sbin/sendmail
).
If a package is using alternatives, the files which would otherwise conflict must be installed with an appropriate suffix (for example: %{_sbindir}/sendmail.postfix
instead of %{_sbindir}/sendmail
), the original locations must be touched (for example: touch %{_sbindir}/sendmail
), the links set up by alternatives must be listed as %ghost in the file list and proper Requires: must be added, like in the examples below.
Putting the alternativized files in the file list ensures that they are owned by respective packages, which means that commands like:
- rpm -qf /usr/bin/foo
- yum install /usr/bin/foo
- repoquery --whatprovides /usr/bin/foo
all work properly. Using %ghost for this purpose allows using globs and generated file lists.
Examples
Example from antlr.spec:
Requires(post): %{_sbindir}/update-alternatives Requires(postun): %{_sbindir}/update-alternatives ... %install ... touch %{_bindir}/antlr %post %{_sbindir}/update-alternatives --install %{_bindir}/antlr \ %{name} %{_bindir}/antlr-java 10 %postun if [ $1 -eq 0 ] ; then %{_sbindir}/update-alternatives --remove %{name} %{_bindir}/antlr-java fi ... %files ... %ghost %{_bindir}/antlr %{_bindir}/antlr-java
And a more complex example of alternatives invocation from sendmail.spec, slightly edited:
Requires(post): %{_sbindir}/update-alternatives Requires(postun): %{_sbindir}/update-alternatives Requires(preun): %{_sbindir}/update-alternatives ... %install ... # rename files for alternative usage mv %{buildroot}%{_sbindir}/sendmail %{buildroot}%{_sbindir}/sendmail.sendmail touch %{buildroot}%{_sbindir}/sendmail for i in mailq newaliases rmail; do mv %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/$i %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/$i.sendmail touch %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/$i done mv %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1/mailq.1 %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1/mailq.sendmail.1 touch %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1/mailq.1 mv %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1/newaliases.1 %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1/newaliases.sendmail.1 touch %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man1/newaliases.1 mv %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man5/aliases.5 %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man5/aliases.sendmail.5 touch %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man5/aliases.5 mv %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man8/sendmail.8 %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man8/sendmail.sendmail.8 touch %{buildroot}%{_mandir}/man8/sendmail.8 %postun if [ "$1" -ge "1" ]; then if [ "`readlink %{_sysconfdir}/alternatives/mta`" == "%{_sbindir}/sendmail.sendmail" ]; then %{_sbindir}/alternatives --set mta %{_sbindir}/sendmail.sendmail fi fi %post # Set up the alternatives files for MTAs. %{_sbindir}/alternatives --install %{_sbindir}/sendmail mta %{_sbindir}/sendmail.sendmail 90 \ --slave %{_bindir}/mailq mta-mailq %{_bindir}/mailq.sendmail \ --slave %{_bindir}/newaliases mta-newaliases %{_bindir}/newaliases.sendmail \ --slave %{_bindir}/rmail mta-rmail %{_bindir}/rmail.sendmail \ --slave /usr/lib/sendmail mta-sendmail /usr/lib/sendmail.sendmail \ --slave %{_sysconfdir}/pam.d/smtp mta-pam %{_sysconfdir}/pam.d/smtp.sendmail \ --slave %{_mandir}/man8/sendmail.8.gz mta-sendmailman %{_mandir}/man8/sendmail.sendmail.8.gz \ --slave %{_mandir}/man1/mailq.1.gz mta-mailqman %{_mandir}/man1/mailq.sendmail.1.gz \ --slave %{_mandir}/man1/newaliases.1.gz mta-newaliasesman %{_mandir}/man1/newaliases.sendmail.1.gz \ --slave %{_mandir}/man5/aliases.5.gz mta-aliasesman %{_mandir}/man5/aliases.sendmail.5.gz \ --initscript sendmail ... %preun if [ $1 = 0 ]; then %{_sbindir}/alternatives --remove mta %{_sbindir}/sendmail.sendmail fi ... %files ... %ghost %{_sbindir}/sendmail %ghost %{_bindir}/mailq %ghost %{_bindir}/newaliases %ghost %{_bindir}/rmail %ghost /usr/lib/sendmail %ghost %{_sysconfdir}/pam.d/smtp %ghost %{_mandir}/man8/sendmail.8.gz %ghost %{_mandir}/man1/mailq.1.gz %ghost %{_mandir}/man1/newaliases.1.gz %ghost %{_mandir}/man5/aliases.5.gz %{_sbindir}/sendmail.sendmail %{_bindir}/mailq.sendmail %{_bindir}/newaliases.sendmail %{_bindir}/rmail.sendmail /usr/lib/sendmail.sendmail %config(noreplace) %{_sysconfdir}/pam.d/smtp.sendmail %{_mandir}/man8/sendmail.sendmail.8.gz %{_mandir}/man1/mailq.sendmail.1.gz %{_mandir}/man1/newaliases.sendmail.1.gz %{_mandir}/man5/aliases.sendmail.5.gz %attr(0755,root,root) %{_initrddir}/sendmail
Motivation
Current usage of alternatives is inconsistent, and rpm -qf /some/file will often say the file is unowned, even if it's been created by some package, which is especially misleading and annoying in case of binaries.
Existing practice
Packages using this solution:
- antlr
- cdrkit
- classpathx-jaf
- classpathx-mail
- ettercap
- jakarta-commons-dbcp
- java-1.5.0-gcj
- OpenEXR_Viewers
- pinentry
- saxon
- xalan-j2
- xemacs
- xerces-j2
Packages that need fixing:
- cups
- emacs
- esmtp
- exim
- fedora-usermgmt
- gcin
- gridengine
- ibus
- imsettings
- java-1.6.0-openjdk
- kinput2
- libextractor
- mx4j
- nabi
- openmpi
- postfix
- scim
- sendmail
- ssmtp
- tomcat5
- uim
- unison213
- unison227
- ushare