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List:       debian-devel
Subject:    Re: Getting rid of circular dependencies, stage 3
From:       Henning Glawe <glaweh () debian ! org>
Date:       2006-01-11 9:10:00
Message-ID: 20060111091000.GA5291 () ruprecht ! simpsons ! bogus
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On Mon, Jan 09, 2006 at 10:15:58PM -0500, Joey Hess wrote:
> These are all necessary, and debconf is an essential package which is
> not subject to the circular dependency postinst ordering problems afaik.
> [...]
> The bug report for these does not give any concrete reasons why a
> circular dependency is a problem in this particular case.

every circular dependency is a problem: the apt-dpkg-combo blows up as soon
as apt splits the to-be-configured list for dpkg between the elements of a
circular dependency.
this happens, if apt is processing many packages at the same time, e.g. when
run from an automatic installer like FAI (whose install_packages script has
been equipped with a only-feed-N-packages-at-the-same-time-into-apt
workarouns) or when doing a dist-upgrade between two debian releases on a
machine with 'many' packages installed.

conclusion: we have two possibilities
a) explicitely forbid circular dependencies in policy
b) explicitely allow them and enhance APT. a long time ago, O(2years), I
   wrote a hack to let apt and dpkg communicate via a pipe using 
   dpkg's command-fd option; it was rejected at that time because the apt
   maintainers wanted to switch to a kind of libdpkg.
   Any news on this solution?

-- 
c u
henning

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