On Fri, 21 Jun 2024 20:27:56 +0200 Helmut Grohne <hel...@subdivi.de> wrote: > Package: debian-policy > Version: 4.7.0.0 > X-Debbugs-Cc: bl...@debian.org,m...@debian.org,mbi...@debian.org,z...@debian.org > > Hi, > > given the progress we have made with /usr-move and DEP17, I think it is > time to consider encoding the changes into policy. As of this writing, > there are 216 source packages in unstable that still install into > aliased locations and their number has been dropping since a while. All > but very few packages have bug reports of important severity and will > have their severity upgraded to serious on August 6th. > > Generally speaking DEP17 says that no package should install any files > below /bin/, /lib*/ and /sbin/. Doing so would amount to a symlink vs > directory conflict between base-files which now installs symlinks at the > relevant locations. What happens with these locations depends on the > order of unpacks. In many cases, this is not a problem, because > base-files is essential and thus unpacked early. Other than that, > running dpkg-deb -x foo.deb / causes these symlinks to be overwritten > with actual directories possibly breaking the installation. We currently > have mitigations for these problems in place and plan to drop them after > trixie. > > For these reasons, I propose changing section 10.1 and encoding the > avoidance of symlink vs directory conflicts into policy. To get a > discussion going, I suggest the following update. > > - To support merged-/usr systems, packages must not install files in both > - /path and /usr/path. For example, a package must not install both > - /bin/example and /usr/bin/example. > + Since base-files implements mandatory merged-/usr by installing the > + aliasing symbolic links, other packages must not install files into > + aliased paths such as /bin, /lib, /lib* or /sbin. The package manager is > + not prepared to deal with such aliasing and in prohibiting the > + installation into aliased locations, we avoid triggering undefined > + behaviour. Conversely, packages may assume that /bin, /lib and /sbin are > + symlinks at all times and that their files below /usr/bin, /usr/lib and > + /usr/sbin are also accessible via their aliased locations.
Seconded -- Kind regards, Luca Boccassi
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