[to debian-devel only]

On 2024-03-01 10:13:18 +0100, Helmut Grohne wrote:

On Thu, Feb 29, 2024 at 06:53:56AM +0100, Paul Gevers wrote:

Well, officially downgrading isn't supported (although it typically works) *and* losing files is one of the problems of our merged-/usr solution (see [1]). I *suspect* this might be the cause. We're working hard (well, helmut is) to protect us and our users from loosing files on upgrades. We don't protect against downgrades.

As much as we like blaming all lost files on the /usr-move, this is not
one them. If you are downgrading from to a package that formerly has
been replaced, you always have lost files and you always had to
reinstall the package.

In the past, when I asked why downgrading wasn't supported, i.e. the
possible issues with downgrading, I was answered something about the
files handled by maintainer scripts, which is fairly understandable
(BTW, this is mentioned at [1], with an example). But no documented
issues with the files directly provided by the packages, like library
files (from what I could see about the complaints). Indeed, I thought
that the presence of /var/lib/dpkg/info/*.md5sums would be sufficient
to detect issues. So, what's the point of these files?

[1] https://wiki.debian.org/MaintainerScripts

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Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
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