Description of Problem: ( Surprised this hasn't already been found, reported, and fixed, but I've searched a number of places and can't find any reference to it !!! ) Redhat v7.1 installs perl version 5.006 ( reported as 5.6.0 from rpm ) A number of RPM's require perl >= 5.00503 Attempts to install RPM stop with message error: failed build dependencies: perl >= 5.00503 is needed by (eg)perl-Authen-PAM-0.08-6 How Reproducible: Every time. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Use RH v 7.1 out of the box 2. Attempt to build or install an RPM that has BuildRequires: or Requires: perl >= 5.00503 3. Actual Results: error: failed build dependencies: perl >= 5.00503 is needed by (for example )perl-Authen-PAM-0.08-6 Expected Results: Builds / Installs correctly Additional Information: Think this relates to the changes in way version numbers are handled ?? For RH7.1 rpm -qa reports perl-5.6.0-12 perl itself reports version number is 5.006 ( print "$]" ) Have tried this with a number of RPM's requiring perl >= 5.00503. All result in the same message.
This is a package problem, not an rpm problem. perl-5.6.0 has an ep[och, so the dependency on perl in each package needs an explicit epoch, as in Requires: perl >= 0:5.00503 Note the explicit "0:" epoch
So this means that now many RPMS are broken and need to be changed !? ie no backward compatibility ( including probably many perl related RPMS's provided with RH7.1 ) ???
It means anything you want it to mean. Meanwhile, I've described the fix and don't wish to argue further.
Sorry - didn't mean to come across as argumentative. I just want to confirm what you are saying, because I am quite new to RPM's and linux and the implications seem significant. If I am understanding what you are saying, I need either: 1. contact the producers of the RPMS that have this, and ask them to upgrade their packages, or 2. if they are available on the net, update the relevant source RPMS, or 3. Fix them for my application, but then things get out of sync with what is publicly available.
Apologies, I didn't mean to appear gruff either. Yes, there's a lot of CPAN packaging breakage because of the need (i.e. so that perl-5.6.0 is "newer" than perl-6.00503, it's not "newer" because 6 < 503) for an epoch in the perl package. That means that an epoch must be explicitly included in all packages that depend on perl forever more: Requires: perl >= 0:5.00503 Can't be helped ...