From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.0rc2) Gecko/20020510 Description of problem: During the update cycle for RH7.2 there were three of four occasions when new packages dependancies for existing packages. As a result, these new packages were often not installed. If would be convenient if the freshen option could include the ability to include uninstalled packages the existing packages might now be dependant on. This may mean either: 1. creating a new flag for this type of freshen. 2. having freshen comment that new packages are required to satisfy dependancies and ask whether it should install them, or 3. including this in the current freshen model. Obviously, for security reasons, the first two options would be better, and both might be best. For example, the updated printconf tool had a package dependancy added to it after RH7.2 was released. Obviously, to continue using this package I would need to install the new package, but freshen doesn't do this. As a result, I must manually install the new package instead of allowing freshen to take care of it. As an example of why this feature would be useful, when I install RH on a server, it would be very convenient if I could copy the current updates for RH onto the server and then just type rpm -Fvh to get the server up-to-date. Currently, I am forced to individually install about four different sets of packages before the freshen option will work. This would greatly simplify getting RH servers installed quickly and simply. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Download the current updates into a new folder on a newly installed redhat server. 2. Open a terminal, and cd /directory/with/updates 3. As root, run 'rpm -Fvh *.rpm Actual Results: The updates may fail to install as new packages have been added to some of the currently installed packages, creating a dependancy nightmare Expected Results: It would be great if this could be handled gracefully using one of the suggestions above Additional info:
If you want *exactly* the set of packages downloaded, even if not installed, then use -Uvh, not -Fvh.
No, I don't want exactly the set of packages installed. One of the great things about the freshen option is that I can do a custom install of redhat to meet the customers needs, and then using the rpm -Fvh I can get all the packages up-to-date without having to manually select the correct packages. This greatly simplifies the process of setting up a redhat server. For example, I set up a server with only httpd, dns, and ftp. I then copy the entire set of updates to the machine (I keep an up-to-date copy on the local server) and then using rpm -Fvh I update the relevant packages without installing any services the customer doesn't need. However, one of the weaknesses of rpm -Fvh is that if one of the existing packages requires a new package I'm forced to manually install it before I can rpm -Fvh the rest of the packages. Often this manual install can be a real dependancy nightmare. I'd like to be able to say rpm -Fvh (+ install any new dependancies) and walk away and know that I don't need to sit through the entire process. Whilst using rpm -Uvh to install some of the packages isn't too hard when a new version has just been released, it can be a painful process when there are plenty of updates for the current version. For example, there about 500 meg worth of updates for rh72 and it's a considerable process going through the dependancy nightmare that is caused by addition package dependancies on existing packages. You do something similar to what I am requesting when the redhat 72 installer. If you do a custom install, or and upgrade, the installer checks all the requested packages and then prompts is any other packages are necessary to satisfy all the dependancies. i'm reopening this bug as i don't believe you understood my original request and hopefully my additional comments might help to further explain what it is that I'm requesting
rpm-4.1 makes the process of discovering dependency solutions easier: if the rpmdb-redhat package is installed, then suggestions for unresolved dependencies will be made. This still ain't a full blown dependency solver like up2date, but then rpm isn't (and shouldn't be) up2date.
I'm reopening this bug again, because so far the two responses I've got are not solutions to what I'm requesting. If you don't want to add this functionality then just say so, but don't tell me about things that don't really have merit in this bug. Here's what I'm asking for. What I wan't is the ability for rpm -Fvh to include related packages if new packages need to be installed to satisfy a dependancy. In recent versions of Redhat (7.1, 7.2) some of the packages added new dependancies after the original install. As a result, using rpm -Fvh would fail because one of the required packages needed to be installed before freshening the packagesI'm reopening this bug again, because so far the two responses I've got are not solutions to what I'm requestin. It would be great if rpm could state the the following packages need to be 'installed' to satisfy the request to freshen packages, and then (if no flag is supply) request approval to install these packages. The new feature in RPM 4.1 that you mentioned will be usefull (to some degree, although how is will handle not Redhat RPMS will be interesting) but will not solve the above problem. Freshens current functionality *IS* a huge pain in the arse at the moment, especially when you constantly set up servers, and then have to spend 30 minutes satisfying dependancies just to get the server up-to-date with patches. Having the above features added to rpm would allow installers to type a single command and have all packages freshen correctly without having to hang around. Again, I don't mind being told your not interested in adding this functionality, but the two responses I've got so far an not solutions. The first response is, I imagine, why freshen was included in rpm to start with, and the second, while resolving some of the 'dependancy nightmare' doesn't really make using rpm to update machines any less time consuming. Sorry if I sound snippy, but I've had this bug closed twice and I'm still not convinced that people are even aware of what I'm asking for. Don't think of this as an enhancement so much as a 'ueability issue'.
Specific points: 1) Your "include related packages" request is what I've been calling a "dependency solver". 2) rpm-4.1 *does* state that certain packages need to be installed to satisfy dependencies if the rpmdb-redhat package is installed. 3) I understand your request perfectly, and I'm interested in getting the functionality into rpm. What's there in rpm-4.1 is a significant step in that direction.