Absolutely agreed, apt /is/ no panacea, it just bugs me that there's no way
(other than non-automated reinstalling) to detect or fix packages that are
missing integral files. I realize this is probably a corner case, but it just
feels like error checking that could be done automagically...
Actually, I think over the last few days of studying apt I think I might've
learned enough to be able to pull something like this off, so I'm going to try
my hand at writing a script that does this very simplistically, I'll let you
know how it turns out... Still very much the newbie at python and bash, but it
seems possible...
I do realize the main problem is my shoddy hardware, and pipe dream though it
may be, my dream is still to have a system that runs well despite, or at least
that can recognize, its failures. Your point however, is well taken.
Nick Daly
--- "Lord of, St. Luke Valor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> We are all intimidated when confronted with the word firewalls. Harddrive
> partitioning is the largest hurdle in any Linux installation. Debian is no
> exception. EXT2, EXT3, JFS, XFS, ReiserFS are all just a series of
> meaningless abbrevations to anyone. I speak mostly for myself.
>
> Is your laptop USB 2.0 capable? Does it use Firewire? Try to find multiple
> external IDE hardrives. They have a large disk capacity. Play around with
> raid arrays. Learn about Logical Volume Management. Help realize the dream
> of one optimal filesystem.
>
> apt is not the panacea, it only feels that way.
>
> On 1/6/08, Nick Daly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > Package: apt
> > Version: 0.6.46.4-0.1
> > Severity: wishlist
> >
> > *** Please type your report below this line ***
> > Unfortunately, I run a laptop with an (at best) shoddy harddrive (which
> > I'll replace when I can afford it), and it's a harddrive that crashes
> > and loses files with reckless abandon (thank god for my backup drive).
> > Every so often, it loses a file from /usr/bin or /usr/lib, with
> > understandably horrid results.
> >
> > What I'd really like to do is have a way of testing my system for
> > packages with missing/broken files. For example, I'd really like to run
> > "apt-busted iceweasel" and then the program would test for the existence
> > (and possibly correct MD5 or CRC32 checksum) of all the files installed
> > by the iceweasel package. If any of the files didn't check out,
> > "apt-busted" would list the package, the non-working files, and give the
> > user the option to reinstall the broken package.
> >
> > Possible useful arguments would include:
> > "--depend" Tests installed dependencies of the mentioned package.
> > "--recommend" Tests installed recommended packages of the mentioned
> > package.
> > "--suggest" Tests installed suggested packages of the mentioned
> > package.
> > "--checksum" Tests for the correct checksum of each file, in addition
> > to mere existence and correct size tests. This assumes of course,
> > checksums
> > for individual files are built into Debian packages which may not be the
> > case,
> > but would be wonderful if true.
> > "--recursive=<# of levels>/all" Tests each installed package (based on
> > command-line arguments) depended/recommended/suggested by the mentioned
> > package, # levels deep. Or tests all installed d/r/s packages mentioned:
> > until
> > packages have no further dependencies or a circular dependency loop is
> > achieved.
> > "--everything!!!" Tests every package on the system. Would likely
> > take years to complete, but would be worth the effort.
> >
> > To ensure correct verification packages tested would have to be
> > downloaded into the apt-cache, if they weren't already there, to be
> > testable.
> >
> > After each run, "apt-busted" would provide a list of packages and
> > files that didn't verify correctly, and then offer the user the option
> > to reinstall the mentioned, possibly broken packages/files.
> >
> > I know this is a crazy pie-in-the-sky idea, but it would give a
> > beautiful verifiability and error-recovery to the Debian system.
> >
> > Thanks so much for reading this idea,
> > Nick Daly
[subsequent text omitted for brevity]
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