At 8:13 AM -0500 12/1/06, James Olin Oden wrote: >On 11/30/06, Jeff Johnson <n3npq.jbj@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> On 11/30/06, Tony Nelson <tonynelson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> > Does "rpm --initdb" ever delete database files, specifically the Packages >> > file? Is it safe to do "rpm --initdb ; rpm --rebuilddb"? I want to get >> > straight what "rpm --initdb" does, so I don't give bad advice. >> > >> > I had read that --initdb created a fresh, new database, as implied by "man >> > rpm", wiping out the old database. Others have disagreed, and it seems >> > that they are right. I looked casually at the RPM source code for >>--initdb >> > (stopping when it called through a function pointer), and it looks like >> > --initdb only tries to open / create the database file(s), and won't >> > replace existing files. I ran "rpm -vv --initdb --dbpath >> > /my/broken/database", and it only mentioned the Packages file. >> >> The only current use in rpm for --initdb is to conform to the doco >> so that I don't have to waste time and energy explaining to users why >>--initdb >> hasn't been needed for years and years. >> >Which is to say rpm uses a lazy algorithm to create the initial rpm >database, such that you never have to explicitly call --initdb which >historically was used to create the initial rpm database. In other >words, rpm creates the initial rpm database automatically. Yes. The confusion is that some people think, and can read the RPM man page to say, that --initdb will remove the current RPM database and replace it with a new empty database. Possibly RPM used to do it that way? Anyway, RH BZ 218057. -- ____________________________________________________________________ TonyN.:' The Great Writ <mailto:tonynelson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> ' is no more. <http://www.georgeanelson.com/> _______________________________________________ Rpm-list mailing list Rpm-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rpm-list
