[H-GEN] SMALL RPM PROBLEM

[Byron Ellacott]

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On Thu, 2003-02-13 at 10:27, Greg Black wrote:
> I might have python-1.5.2 installed and I might be happy with
> it.  Then I hear about a python-based tool called pyfoo.  I go
> to install pyfoo-0.1 and find that the package builder decided
> to make it require python-2.1.1 and so suddenly python-2.1.1
> gets installed for free.  If a large part of my software (not
> under the control of the package manager) really does depend on
> python-1.5.2 and will break under python-2.1.1, then I have a
> real problem[1] (apart from the question of whether I want two
> complete python installations).

And, we discover:

$ dpkg -l | grep python
ii  python1.5-base 1.5.2-18.4     An interactive object-oriented scripting lan
ii  python2.1      2.1.3-13       An interactive object-oriented scripting lan
ii  python2.2      2.2.2-5        An interactive object-oriented scripting lan

Similarly, there are different *packages* for gnome and gnome2,
kernel2.2 and kernel2.4, perl5.6 and perl5.8, libc5 and libc6, and so
on.  It seems a good rule of thumb is to create a new package series for
a major version change, but upgrade a package for a minor version
change.

If, on the other hand, you want both pyfoo-0.1 and pyfoo-0.2 installed
at once, I'd be suggesting you'd want to be rolling your own packages
installing them in distinct locations, with different package names. 
And perhaps questioning why. ;)

I suspect the same sort of approach is used in RedHat.

-- 
Byron Ellacott <bje at apnic.net>
APNIC

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