[arch-dev-public] adding a simple hostname binary to base (Was: [signoff] coreutils-8.12-3 initscripts-2011.06.4 net-tools-1.60-18)

[Tom Gundersen]

Hi guys,

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I think the context is relevant.

On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 3:05 AM, Gaetan Bisson <bisson at archlinux.org> wrote:
> This upgrade intends to fix the regression of coreutils' hostname not
> being as featureful as net-tools'.
>
> Changes:
> - coreutils: revert to not building hostname
> - net-tools: revert to building hostname and dnsdomainname

At the moment we do not install net-tools as part of base, but some
tools rely on hostname being present. I think it's presence is
actually part of FHS ("hostname:	Utility to show or set the system's
host name"), so a reasonable assumption I suppose.

To avoid having to install net-tools (or any binaries from it). I
thought this might be a good compromise:

Split out "coreutils-hostname" from coreutils. This new package should
conflicts=(net-tools) and be added to base. Also, net-tools should be
rebuilt to add provides=(coreutils-hostname).

An important point is that we then will only get a very basic hostname
utility which only does the minimum required to satisfy FHS (set/get
hostname). If anything more "fancy" is needed such as "hostname -f"
the legacy net-tools should be installed.

Thoughts,

Tom