external rpm dependency resolution

[Jeff Johnson]

On Apr 3, 2007, at 2:37 PM, Stijn De Weirdt wrote:

> hi all,
>
> i'm looking into rpm dependency resolution for an admin tool and i  
> was wondering if existing smart code (or api) could be of any help.  
> (as i am no real rpm guru/expert, i'm very afraid of starting from  
> scratch).
> any hints or help is very welcome.
>
> the situation is as follows:
> the tool deploys a static list of rpms and repositories to a  
> machine, where all rpms are checked for removal or installation  
> against the local rpmdb. (one of the main reasons of this is to  
> have a form of version control on the rpms installed on the boxes).
>
> the problem arises when making this static rpm list. the main  
> annoyance we are currently facing is that during deployment of the  
> machine configuration, we sometimes have dependency problems  
> (missing rpms, wrong version, file conflicts) that we like to  
> resolve before deploying and preferably without having to do test  
> installs (there are lots of different machine types and  
> architecures. setting up and maintaining a tesbed is not the  
> preferred option).
> (the generation of this list using update/upgrade-like commands  
> would also be a very nice feature)
>

Here's how to dry lab test installing a static list of rpms against  
some known rpmdb:

1) Get a copy of /var/lib/rpm from somewhere. Put in /tmp/rpm directory.

2) Generate a package manifest, i.e. a list of paths to rpm's to  
install. Put in /tmp/manifest file.

3) Run "rpm -Uvv --dbpath /tmp/rpm --test /tmp/manifest".

Dependency failures should be displayed.

> as most rpm management solutions nowadays seem to do this using  
> local rpmdb and the metadata of the repositories, i'm interested in  
> the opinion of the smart experts on how to best tackle this.
>
> the main os is a rhel clone (Scientific Linux), we need support for  
> mixed architectures (i386 and x86_64) and we can generate any kind  
> of metadata that would be needed.
>
> if you need some more detail, i'm more than happy to provide it.
>

If you need more help, contact me privately <n3npq at mac.com>.

73 de Jeff
> many thanks,
>
> stijn