One option smart needs to conquer the world

[Jeff Johnson]

On Feb 22, 2006, at 11:02 AM, Neal Becker wrote:

> When I talk about smart on fedora lists, there is a lot of  
> resistance to the
> idea of a package system that would automatically downgrade  
> packages.  This,
> they say, is not safe.
>
> What about a configuration option to prevent downgrading, or only  
> allow it by
> manual override?  That should satisfy everyone.


Hmmm, there's actually a better implementation of downgrades possible.

What stresses users with downgrades is that vital or important  
information
might be lost forever.

Repackaging the files that were present and saving makes downgrades
less risky.

Transaction rollbacks (i.e. the means by which previously installed  
packages
are re-installed) are largely sound (imho) in current versions of rpm  
(like 4.4.5
released today).

Note: That does *NOT* mean transaction rollbacks are perfect, or  
transparent, or anything
other than that the mechanism is fully implemented, and has forward/ 
backward links
between packages that upgrade/downgrade.

Hint: Try
	rpm -qa --blink
in rpm-4.4.4 and later.

73 de Jeff