Question about locking packages

[Jeff Johnson]

On Aug 2, 2006, at 11:36 AM, Gustavo Niemeyer wrote:

>> If I generalize Requires: through the same mechanism (i.e. a
>> configuration file), and attach/check those Requires: with every
>> transactilon, then its  possible to specify a persistent dependency
>> which should have the same effect as locking or pinning.
>
> Indeed. This would have the same effect of Smart locks.
>
> Is there an API to query these "soft" requirements in RPM?
>

Yes:

/**
* Load sysinfo provides into a dependency set.
* @retval *dsp         (loaded) depedency set
* @param fn            path to file (NULL uses /etc/rpm/sysinfo)
* @return              0 on success
*/
int rpmdsSysinfo(rpmds * dsp, /*@null@*/ const char * fn)
         /*@globals rpmGlobalMacroContext, h_errno, fileSystem,  
internalState @*/
         /*@modifies *dsp, rpmGlobalMacroContext, h_errno,
                 fileSystem, internalState @*/;

There's no-brainer python bindings as well. You end up with a  
dependency set
containing the contents of /etc/rpm/sysinfo (or any file) parsed into  
a dependency set.

You can display what is in /etc/rpm/sysinfo using
     rpm -v --showrc
(Note: -v before --showrc, not after. --showrc as currently  
implemented is
immediate process and exit.)

>> Per-transaction dependencies, including Requires:/Conflicts:/
>> Obsoletes:, through a user specified configuration file, is likely to
>> be in rpm-4.4.8.
>
> Interesting. Any usage case in mind?
>

Persistent Obsoletes: can be achieved through, say, /etc/rpm/sysinfo/ 
Obsoletes
configuration. No known usage case for per-transaction Conflicts:, but
Conflicts have very little use these days because they cause full- 
stop failure
to upgrade when what users expect of depsolvers is figuring what  
needs to be added
or removed to continue.

73 de Jeff