On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 17:31:28 +0100, Christian.Iseli@xxxxxxxx wrote: > > Without overriding shadow-utils from the outside, you cannot replace it or > > change its behaviour. Without modifying the dependency chain, you cannot > > influence installation-order either. Hence there's no way to insert a > > configuration package into the depchain. > > Ok. > > > Technically, packages which run "useradd" require /usr/sbin/useradd in Fedora > > space. They don't require an arbitrary "useradd" in $PATH. They don't require > > a package with the name "shadow-utils". And no other package (not in Core and > > not in Extras either) must replace or otherwise conflict with /usr/sbin/ > > useradd unless it is given a different file name. > > But something similar is done for e.g. /usr/sbin/sendmail , which is a symlink > to /etc/alternatives/mta , which offers a way to replace the original sendmail > with a customized one At run-time, not at install-time. *boom* [For competing packages, which provide the same base functionality, "alternatives" may be seen as sufficient. Although, there's the risk that program A and program B are not completely interchangeable. That's admittedly ugly.] Transfer this scenario from Core ("sendmail" package) to Core ("shadow-utils" package) plus an Extras package, which the admin must configure at install-time to adjust its install-time behaviour (i.e. choose the base uid) for the remaining packages to be installed. Do you see the problem? Good. Go a step farther and move the Extras into Core? Do you still see the problem? ==> Competing packages -- and every pair of packages which provides the same virtual capabilities competes with eachother at the depsolver level -- must be interchangeable. shadow-utils and an alternative [modified] implementation in a different package are not interchangeable if install-time configuration is desired. -- fedora-extras-list mailing list fedora-extras-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-extras-list