Description of problem: Manpage for rpm says this: --aid Add suggested packages to the transaction set when needed. and something similar comes from 'rpm --help'. On a system without 'policy' packages installed: # rpm -Uvh --aid policy* error: Failed dependencies: checkpolicy is needed by policy-sources-1.9.2-12 Hm, so either I do not understand what I am reading, or this option is broken ('checkpolicy-...*.rpm' is available in the current directory) or documentation skips some essential details. Does something like 'rpmdb-fedora' has to be installed for this to work? I do not see any mention of such precondition anywhere? BTW - asking a shell subprocess to supply a name if a suitably named file is present in the current directory does not seem to be overly difficult. One can always fail later if a match was bad. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): rpm-4.3.1-0.1
The --aid option requires a *.rpm repository and the path to be configured in # The path to the dependency universe packages. This should # be a path to the packages contained in the solve database. %_solve_pkgsdir /mnt/redhat/test/latest-i386/Fedora/RPMS/ Shell subprocesses don't work in empty chroot's because there is no /bin/sh there.
> The --aid option requires .... Then this is a documentation bug as none of the above is mentioned. Not even "such-and-such package has to be installed". Moreover the option has a rather limited use because 'rpmdb-...' is updated constantly in a development series but for a release it will quickly get out of sync when updates will show up. Or you mean that "a *.rpm repository" can be maintained with a help of '--justdb'? Documentation again? Also "try this and fall back on something else if it did not work" mechanisms are not unthinkable.
Documenting unfinished work ain't exactly wise. "limited use" well known. rpm is complicated enough without adding Yet More Complexity. Do you have a bug here, or are you just kvetching?
> Do you have a bug here, or are you just kvetching? Yes, I do have a bug. An incomplete and/or misleading manpage. It does not take very much to fix that. A sentence like this: "An appriopriate 'rpmdb' package has to be installed for this option to work". If it would be possible to explain shortly how to update such *.rpm repository, if a need would arise, that would be even better.
OK, a bug. Deferred until it's clear whether --aid is sufficiently useful.
Very useful option it is "--aid", for various uses (minimalistic --root installs, adding packages to an existing system without having to sort out dependencies). All you have to do is keep the rpmdb in sync. Michal, if you feel this should be documented in some more detail please attach a (terse, 2, 3 lines) man page patch. But note that this is essentially an RFE to a man page. Not very high priority.
Well, there is already a one-liner in my earlier comment which, I think, should be adequate for now. If this is supposed to be a short description how to keep rpmdb in sync then I am not so sure about such process myself. I imagine that '--justdb' can be helpful here but I did not try anything of that sort.
The one liner is not only hinting in the direction of what it should be, and it is not a patch. How to keep the rpmdb in sync is not relevant for the man page. Something along the lines "fedora-rpmdb needs to be installed (and kept in sync) and the macros in /etc/rpm/ need to be setup correctly for --aid to work". Correctly worded and to the point, and as a patch. If you want small and relatively unimportant changes like these applied your chances are best if you apply a nice clean patch, so the developer only has to apply and not bother any further.
Changing subject line and severity.
> Something along the lines "fedora-rpmdb needs to be installed ... That wording is wrong as rpm is not something Fedora specific.
So supply the patch!
Re: comment #3 What's the "unfinished work"? The suggestions in comment #2 or the current implementation of --aid itself? If --aid is unfinished, that may actually be the most important thing to mention in the manpage (IMO). (It's possible that I'll write up some brief changes to the manpage, but before I do that I want to make sure I understand the situation.)