Do we need this crap on LWN? [LWN.net]

integrity checking

Posted Feb 21, 2007 19:38 UTC (Wed) by sandy_pond (guest, #9734) [Link]

I don't think this has much to do with RPM vs debs as much as this link:

"One of the co-founders of the open source movement has become the member of the Freespire Leadership Board. Freespire is a community-driven, Linux-based operating system that gives users the option of combining free open source software with certain proprietary codecs, drivers and applications. Raymond, well-known as both a theorist and an advocate for the open source movement, joins twelve other Freespire Leadership Board members, composed of thinkers, business people, evangelists, and key members of the Linux community."

integrity checking

Posted Feb 21, 2007 20:52 UTC (Wed) by muwlgr (guest, #35359) [Link]

I use debsums and I would like to note that .md5sums file is optional for .deb packages, unlike .rpms where I think md5sums are mandatory and could always be verified by rpm -V.

integrity checking

Posted Feb 22, 2007 0:25 UTC (Thu) by TwoTimeGrime (guest, #11688) [Link]

> apt-get install debsums

Thanks, but that highlights another think I dislike about debian. There are too many commands for package management. Now I have to remember dpkg, dpkg-query, and debsums along with all of their different options to manage my packages. At least with RPM systems there's a single command and options to remember which is just "rpm". Also, why isn't debsums' functionality built into the package management system by default? And why isn't debsums installed by default.

integrity checking

Posted Feb 22, 2007 3:24 UTC (Thu) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]

Well you don't have to remember anything.

Use wajig tool or the jig interface.

It's a python package management system that does it right. It basicly takes the functionality provided by all these little tools and utilities and makes a nice little user-friendly interface for it.

For example to backport a package from testing to stable you'd go like this:
edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add the deb-src line for the repository.

wajig update
wajig upgrade (to make sure everything is up to date_
wajig build-depend foo
wajig build foo
wajig install ./foo-blah-1.0.0.deb

For instance I did that with OpenAFS server since the newer version in Testing was much better then what was aviable by default in stable. Took a whole 10 minutes to download, compile, then install the package.

Also I could of easily then taken the package and installed it on a bunch of machines.

The python bash-completion stuff works for it in testing. So if you go:
wajig <tab><tab>
it will list all the commands it supports.

Or you can go:
wajig list-commands

Also it has intellegent handling of agruements with trying to do best effort match to your command to a certain extent.
wajig listcommands
wajig List-Commands

will do the same thing.

Also you can do search through package names using tab.

And not only is the thing written in python and is convient to use.. it is QUICK. Very quick. Because the UI is in python were speed is not critical, but on the heavy calculating stuff it's all done by the little C programs that it's a front-end for.

That's the nice thing about Debian.

It's tools are small and contained. Just fast little utilities. Why have everything in some huge monolythic application? It just makes it buggy and difficult to use.

BTW this is the functionality you can get with wajig + debian package tools.

A lot of people prefer not to use front ends and use the tools directly, but I am lazy like that.

addcdrom -- Add a CD-ROM to the list of available sources of packages
auto-alts -- Mark the alternative to be auto set (using set priorities)
auto-clean -- Remove superseded deb files from the download cache
auto-download -- Do an update followed by a download of all updated packages
auto-install -- Perform an install without asking questions (non-interactive)
available -- List versions of packages available for installation
bug -- Check reported bugs in package using the Debian Bug Tracker
build -- Retrieve/unpack sources and build .deb for the named packages
build-depend -- Retrieve packages required to build listed packages
changelog -- Retrieve latest changelog for the package
clean -- Remove all deb files from the download cache
commands -- List all the JIG commands and one line descriptions for each
daily-upgrade -- Perform an update then a dist-upgrade
dependents -- List of packages which depend/recommend/suggest the package
describe -- One line description of packages (-v and -vv for more detail)
describe-new -- One line description of new packages
detail -- Provide a detailed description of package (describe -vv)
detail-new -- Provide a detailed description of new packages (describe -vv)
dist-upgrade -- Upgrade to new distribution (installed and new rqd packages)
docs -- Equivalent to help with -verbose=2
download -- Download package files ready for an install
file-download -- Download packages listed in file ready for an install
file-install -- Install packages listed in a file
file-remove -- Remove packages listed in a file
find-file -- Search for a file within installed packages
find-pkg -- Search for an unofficial Debian package at apt-get.org
fix-configure -- Perform dpkg --configure -a (to fix interrupted configure)
fix-install -- Perform apt-get -f install (to fix broken dependencies)
fix-missing -- Perform apt-get --fix-missing upgrade
force -- Install packages and ignore file overwrites and depends
help -- Print documentation (detail depends on --verbose)
hold -- Place listed packages on hold so they are not upgraded
init -- Initialise or reset the JIG archive files
install -- Install (or upgrade) one or more packages or .deb files
installr -- Install package and associated recommended packages
installrs -- Install package and recommended and suggested packages
installs -- Install package and associated suggested packages
install/dist -- Install packages from specified distribution
integrity -- Check the integrity of installed packages (through checksums)
large -- List size of all large (>10MB) installed packages
last-update -- Identify when an update was last performed
list -- List the status and description of installed packages
list-all -- List a one line description of given or all packages
list-alts -- List the objects that can have alternatives configured
list-cache -- List the contents of the download cache
list-commands -- List all the JIG commands and one line descriptions for each
list-daemons -- List the daemons that JIG can start/stop/restart
list-files -- List the files that are supplied by the named package
list-hold -- List those packages on hold
list-installed -- List packages (with optional argument substring) installed
list-log -- List the contents of the install/remove log file (filtered)
list-names -- List all known packages or those containing supplied string
list-orphans -- List libraries not required by any installed package
list-scripts -- List the control scripts of the package of deb file
list-section -- List packages that belong to a specific section
list-section -- List the sections that are available
list-status -- Same as list but only prints first two columns, not truncated
list-wide -- Same as list but avoids truncating package names
local-dist-upgrade -- Dist-upgrade using packages already downloaded
local-upgrade -- Upgrade using packages already downloaded, but not any others
madison -- Runs the madison command of apt-cache.
move -- Move packages in the download cache to a local Debian mirror
new -- List packages that became available since last update
news -- Obtain the latest news about the package
new-upgrades -- List packages newly available for upgrading
non-free -- List installed packages that do not meet the DFSG
orphans -- List libraries not required by any installed package
package -- Generate a .deb file for an installed package
policy -- From preferences file show priorities/policy (available)
purge -- Remove one or more packages and configuration files
purge-depend -- Purge package and those it depend on and not required by others
purge-orphans -- Purge orphaned libraries (not required by installed packages)
readme -- Display the package's README file from /usr/share/doc
recursive -- Download package and any packages it depends on
recommended -- Install package and associated recommended packages
reconfigure -- Reconfigure the named installed packages or run gkdebconf
reinstall -- Reinstall each of the named packages
reload -- Reload daemon configs, e.g., gdm, apache (see list-daemons)
remove -- Remove one or more packages (see also purge)
remove-depend -- Remove package and its dependees not required by others
remove-orphans -- Remove orphaned libraries (not required by installed packages)
repackage -- Generate a .deb file for an installed package
reset -- Initialise or reset the JIG archive files
restart -- Stop then start a daemon, e.g., gdm, apache (see list-daemons)
rpm2deb -- Convert a RedHat .rpm file to a Debian .deb file
rpminstall -- Install a RedHat .rpm package
rpmtodeb -- Convert a RedHat .rpm file to a Debian .deb file
search -- Search for packages containing listed words
search-apt -- Find local Debian archives suitable for sources.list
setup -- Configure the sources.list file which locates Debian archives
show -- Provide a detailed description of package [same as detail]
showdistupgrade -- Trace the steps that a dist-upgrade would perform
showinstall -- Trace the steps that an install would perform
showremove -- Trace the steps that a remove would perform
showupgrade -- Trace the steps that an upgrade would perform
size -- Print out the size (in K) of all, or listed, installed packages
sizes -- Print out the size (in K) of all, or listed, installed packages
snapshot -- Generates list of package=version for all installed packages
source -- Retrieve and unpack sources for the named packages
start -- Start a daemon, e.g., gdm, apache (see list-daemons)
status -- Show the version and available version of packages
status-match -- Show the version and available version of matching packages
status-search -- Show the version and available version of matching packages
stop -- Stop a daemon, e.g., gdm, apache (see list-daemons)
suggested -- Install package and associated suggested packages
tasksel -- Run the Gnome task selector to install groups of packages
toupgrade -- List packages with newer versions available for upgrading
unhold -- Remove listed packages from hold so they are again upgraded
unofficial -- Search for an unofficial Debian package at apt-get.org
update -- Update the list of down-loadable packages
update-alts -- Update default alternative for things like x-window-manager
update-pci-ids -- Updates the local list of PCI ids from the internet master list
update-usb-ids -- Updates the local list of USB ids from the internet master list
upgrade -- Upgrade all of the installed packages or just those listed
versions -- List version and distribution of (all) packages.
whatis -- A synonym for describe
whichpkg -- Find the package that supplies the given command or file

""Also, why isn't debsums' functionality built into the package management system by default? And why isn't debsums installed by default.""

Probably because there is little need for it to be installed by default.

With Debian Etch signed packages are going to be used by default. This will ensure that they are not tampered with and are not corrupt. This is the most important reason why you'd need checksums...

There are lots of little things that make your life easier.

Like for instance 'deborphans'. Which uninstalls unused dependancies that may have been installed by a package you ended up removing later.

Or for example: localepurge.

Localepurge can be used to remove locales and localized man pages. It can save many hundreds of megs of disk space, maybe even a gig or two on a machine with a lot of stuff installed. Once you run it then it will automaticly be ran after installing or upgrading packages.

This stuff seriously kicks-ass. Most of the time the functionality of Yum is fine.

But Yum's slowness can be a huge pain. At my work I use a old 600mhz machine. A update using yum got interrupted halfway through becuase I ran out of disk space on / (my mistake).

I was there fixing it from 1 am to 5 am in the morning and the majority of the time was spent on waiting on yum to painfully go through it's motions. It was very very painfull to watch. Even with the -C switch it was painfull.

If it was Debian, and not CentOS:
apt-get -f install

would of fixed it in about 3 minutes.

integrity checking

Posted Feb 22, 2007 5:44 UTC (Thu) by k8to (subscriber, #15413) [Link]

wajig is pretty fantastic. I wish it had become the standard instead of aptitude, and as a result was a bit more maintained.

There are some pretty simple glaring bugs with wajig that have gone unfixed for a lonnnng time. wajig show package fails if it is no longer downloadable but currently installed. apt-cache shows it fine. Huh?

Yeah I should submit a patch but sorry the other 15-odd patches I've submitted about other debian tools have come first.

apt in CentOS (was: integrity checking)

Posted Mar 1, 2007 4:24 UTC (Thu) by topher (guest, #2223) [Link]

Just a note, if you enable the CentOS Extras repository on a CentOS 4.x box, there is an apt package available. You can enable it, use yum to install it, and then use apt to manage your packages from then on.

Definitely worth it, IMO. ;-)