At 6:19 PM -0500 12/2/06, Jeff Johnson wrote: >On Dec 2, 2006, at 5:44 PM, Tony Nelson wrote: > >> At 8:19 AM -0800 12/2/06, Dario Alcocer wrote: >>> Jeff Johnson wrote: >>> >>>> No --initdb has been harmless when run against an existing rpmdb, >>>> been >>>> that way (that I know of) since 1998. >>>> >>>> Truly, how hard is the test: >>>> >>>> cd /var/lib >>>> tar cf rpmdb.tar.gz ./rpm >>>> rpm --initdb >>>> rpm -qa (or --verifydb or --rebuilddb or ... ) >>>> >>>> Way easier to test than it is to sort through whatever is claimed on >>>> the internet. YMMV. >>> >>> It's funny how little we as programmers perform actual experiments to >>> get the answers we want (hmm, maybe many of us don't know about the >>> scientific method.) Anyway, it must not be obvious to us, becuase >>> ESR >>> has it listed in his "Smart Questions" essay: >>> >>> http://catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#before (see item no. 5) >> >>If "rpm --initdb" doesn't destroy my personal RPM database, but the man >>page seems to say that it does, how often should I repeat the command >>before I advise others that it is completely safe and won't destroy their >>RPM database? Frankly, even a grumpy answer from the horses mouth is much >>more trustworthy, and way easier than reading all the relevent RPM source >>code, especially when it starts jumping through function pointers. >> > >Re: "... the man pages seems to say that it does ..." > >The man page says > ... > > REBUILD DATABASE OPTIONS > The general form of an rpm rebuild database command is > > rpm {--initdb|--rebuilddb} [-v] [--dbpath DIRECTORY] [--root >DIRECTORY] > > Use --initdb to create a new database, use --rebuilddb to >rebuild the > database indices from the installed package headers. > ... > >All depends on what meaning you bring to "create" and/or "new". > >So somehow you (or others) are interpreting "create" as "destroy". > >That's really really weird and funny if you squint a bit, sigh. Are you interpreting "create a new database" as "do nothing if the database exists"? Some of us interpret it as "create a /new/ database", which new database must needs replace the old database. >> So, thanks, Jeff, for the grumpy answer! I hope it makes it into >> the man page. > >I'm gonna rip --initdb out of rpm instead. That may help, though for the next couple of years people will still come to the lists and ask what happened to it, even if RPM's man page is changed to say that the database files are created lazily nowadays. >There's no possibility of mis-interpreting what won't be present. > >Of course that won't make any differnce at all, users will think I'm >depriving them of some feature. Heh. Well, you are. >Meanwhile, --verifydb and "rm -f /var/lib/rpm/__db*" are well along >to being ripped out of rpm as well: > > https://lists.dulug.duke.edu/pipermail/rpm-devel/2006-December/ >001923.html That is wise, just so long as the need for them is also removed. >Note: I have a very dry sense of humor ... Hmm. -- ____________________________________________________________________ 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
