[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)

Dave Reisner d at falconindy.com
Tue Aug 2 09:38:41 EDT 2011


On Tue, Aug 02, 2011 at 03:10:01PM +0200, Tom Gundersen wrote:
> 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).

provides should be very general. 'hostname' would be more appropriate.

> 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,

We shouldn't make people install net-tools if the goal all along has
been to move away from it. My vote is to split off the hostname binary
from inetutils, which is just as full featured as hostname from
net-tools.

dave


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