Bug 2339038 - Increase compatibility with image-based systems, especially bootc
Summary: Increase compatibility with image-based systems, especially bootc
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: man-db
Version: rawhide
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Linux
unspecified
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Nikola Forró
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2025-01-20 20:22 UTC by Colin Walters
Modified: 2025-07-28 10:34 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description Colin Walters 2025-01-20 20:22:56 UTC
See https://gitlab.com/fedora/bootc/tracker/-/issues/57

Especially for bootc systems where we encourage derivation from the base, we basically want:

- The "cache" to live in /usr in /usr/lib/man-db or so
- We don't want systemd timers running per-machine



Reproducible: Always

Comment 1 Lukas Javorsky 2025-02-07 11:27:49 UTC
Hi,

Thank you for reporting this issue to us.

As for the request to move the man-db cache to the /usr directory, this directly violates the FHS [1] and thus, the Fedora Packaging Guidelines [2].

The FHS states [3] that any cache data should be located under /var/cache as it is in the case of man-db today.

Are there any other requests made by bootc which also requested not to adhere to the FHS? If so, how were they handled?

[1] https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_3.0/fhs/ch04s06.html#purpose22
[2] https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/packaging-guidelines/#_filesystem_layout
[3] https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_3.0/fhs/ch05s05.html#purpose33

Comment 2 Colin Walters 2025-02-09 16:39:49 UTC
The FHS doesn't require putting *all* caches in /var/cache, it's more that it's a dedicated directory for those.

The most proximate similar example is fontconfig, which we moved to `/usr/lib/fontconfig/fontconfig.cache` for similar reasons.

Not especially that I think there's two fundamentally different types of "cache"; one is where the the data comes from a remote source, and one is like man-db and fontconfig where we're generating a file based on other local files that live in /usr.

Having /var/cache/dnf for package metadata makes sense because the data comes from the network and is not lifecycle bound to the OS.

> Are there any other requests made by bootc which also requested not to adhere to the FHS?

So basically I disagree with your conclusion that this is "not adhering to the FHS".

Comment 3 Lukas Javorsky 2025-02-17 08:38:31 UTC
Still, if we want to move the cache to the /usr/lib, there are two things we need to do:

1. Get the FPC approval for moving it there as per [1]

2. Create a Fedora Change that needs to be approved and done (target will be Fedora 43 - current Rawhide)

This might take time. Isn't there a less time-consuming and easier solution for your problem?


[1] https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/packaging-guidelines/#_exceptions_2

Comment 4 Aoife Moloney 2025-02-26 13:25:04 UTC
This bug appears to have been reported against 'rawhide' during the Fedora Linux 42 development cycle.
Changing version to 42.


Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.