On Tue, May 31, 2005 at 06:23:55PM -0400, Matthew Miller wrote: > > Seth's right -- the correct thing to do is fix the package. I almost > put that in the last message, but got lazy. :) I agree. The broken package is the problem *in this case*. I'll bet if we all thought about it though we could come up with *several* scenarios where a --tsflags, or even just a --test cli option, would be very very useful for a test run of this or that. Look at it from an enterprise perspective. I'm about to write up a document, for nearly 100 system admins, explaining yum. Imagine their reaction when they ask "how do I do a test run of an rpm/yum transaction" and I answer: first, edit yum.conf and add a global line for tsflags then, run your *one* yum command that you want to test last, undo the global option you just set in yum.conf Repeat this process for every test you ever run with yum for the rest of your career with Linux See how this is is a problem? Take this kind of process, multiply it by the number of times it would be performed , and compare this to the work it take to implement a very simple --test cli switch. I know that I'm trading my pain for some pain on Seth's part... but still the "total global work done" doesn't even compare. This fact doesn't escape sysadmins either. I already have to justify Linux over Solaris, and while Linux is almost always better, it is a fight and a case I often have to make. Now I have to answer questions like "can't we find something like yum that is a bit more tuned for system admins?". My answer of "if you want to add your own command line options then look at yum 2.3.3 when it comes out and write your own plugin which adds the option" isn't even close to the words I just used to describe Linux like "enterprise" and "easier" and "better". Don't get me wrong here... yum is the best solution I've ever found for network-based rpm dependency resolution and transport. Yum *doesn't* suck. I've advocated it's use over anything else at over a dozen national conferences where I regularly teach Linux systems administration. I'd use yum for my dental hygiene if I could. My sponsor is even planning on making some donations to the yum group. I love yum!!! That said it could be soo much more sysadmin friendly with a few simple additions, --test not being the least of them. -- Joshua Jensen joshua@xxxxxxxx "If God didn't want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?"
