[arch-general] Package grub Encourages Warnings to be Ignored.

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Eli,

> > Having spotted
> > 
> >     warning: /boot/grub/grub.cfg saved as /boot/grub/grub.cfg.pacsave
> > 
> > during today's large package upgrade, I went to /boot/grub
> > afterwards expecting work to do.  grub.cfg.pacsave didn't exist.
> > `pacman -Ql grub' showed grub doesn't own anything in /boot.  Google
> > led me to https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=242285 where
> > Salkay had earlier started along the same path.
> > 
> > The warning has wasted our time, and the forum's conclusion is
> > `ignore the warning'.  Encouraging warnings to be ignored is a bad
> > idea; I don't suppose some here are too happy when a user turns up
> > with a problem and the answer was under their nose but they `ignored
> > the warning'.
> > 
> > Can a better solution to this be engineered?
>
> This is a one-time event where a package has removed a backup file
> from the package.
...
> See https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/57949 for more details.

Thanks, I've added to the forum's thread for anyone else that Google
leads thither.

> Nowhere in that thread you point to has anyone stated to "ignore
> pacsave warnings, they don't matter".

The conclusion from the forum was that the warning was to be expected,
and that no action was required because of it.  That conclusion to
ignore this warning when *upgrading grub* was correct.  The thread
didn't suggest, to someone with my limited packaging knowledge, that the
warning was a one-off so I thought that I, and others, would get it on
future grub-package upgrades.  A single warning that should be ignored
is encouraging other warnings to be ignored too.  I can conclude that
without claiming it was the explicit advice from the forum's thread.

> So just for the record, it is wise of you to ask what happened,
> because this update was indeed confusing and violates user
> expectations, albeit for a good cause.

It's much better to have an awkward fix than on-going wrongness, I
agree.

> (I'm less happy that you instantly decided we have instituted a
> distro-wide policy to ignore warnings.)

But I did not.  Nowhere did I suggest it was a distro-wide policy.  Even
the subject spells out `Package grub'.  I pointed out something I
thought could be improved in package grub, but you took it as a
criticism of a joint `we' decision by a group of Arch volunteers.

> I would have added a message echoed in the post_upgrade:
>
> "Performing one-time restore of user-generated grub.cfg due to
> removing it from the packaged files -- feel free to ignore the pacsave
> warning this once."

That would have been ideal.

> Is it the end of the world that this was not done?

Nowhere did I suggest it was.  If, as I wrongly thought, it were a
recurring warning on all future grub-package upgrades then it would be
something to consider improving.  But the end of the world, no.

Thanks for the explanation.

-- 
Cheers, Ralph.
https://plus.google.com/+RalphCorderoy