[pacman-dev] [PATCH 0/5] Version the local database

[Allan McRae]

On 20/07/13 10:51, Allan McRae wrote:
> On 16/07/13 22:22, Allan McRae wrote:
>> With removing directory symlink support, we need to make an adjustment to
>> the users local database to adjust any path that relied in that "feature".
>>
>> As this is not a readily detectable change, as was the case in our last
>> local database adjustment, we need to add something to track the local
>> database version.
>>
>> The file ".alpm_db_version" is added to the local database root.  This file
>> is automatically created whenever the local database directory is absent
>> or empty.  This store the current database version as an integer.  I have
>> chosen to use the (next) libalpm soname version so it is easy for us to
>> track what versions are needed.
>>
> 
> Any comments on these?
> 
> I had one comment:
> <toofishes> pacman -Qip should work without a local DB, for instance
> 
> Lets have a look at pacman-4.1.2:
> 
> # rm -rf /var/lib/pacman/
> # pacman -Qip /tmp/pacman-git-4.1.2_67_g7977aab-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
> error: failed to initialize alpm library (could not find or read directory)
> 
> So, we need /var/lib/pacman to initialise the transaction already, so
> having pacman automatically add the /var/lib/pacman/local directory and
> a version file is not much of a burden.
> 
> That means the only change is when you have a local database and it is
> not the correct version:
> 
> # pacman -Qip pacman-git-4.1.2_77_g5ee4a65-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
> error: failed to initialize alpm library (database is incorrect version)
> error:   try running pacman-db-upgrade
> 
> (the spacing in that output is interesting...)
> 
> That requires a one-off database upgrade, which will be needed for any
> pacman operation.  Given it blocks ALL pacman operations (which I am
> fairly sure was the case when we remove "depends" files too), I think
> this is fine.

Final request for more comments...

Allan