Cameron Simpson wrote:
On 18Apr2007 12:44, Mikkel L. Ellertson <mikkel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
| Antti J. Huhtala wrote:
However, I thunk yum (or rpm, underneath) could do with a notion of
sticky/"don't remove this package", which would cause an Error with "yum
remove" instead of an "are you sure", and require a "--remove-sticky"
to actually do. The idea being that:
normally you'd never try to remove such packages,
and never trip over it
you could tune it via some control file
It would include things like bash, the kernel, the X-server, xfs, xterm and
basic fonts if installed, glibc and various other extremely core things. (Why
xterm? Because it's the stanard emulator that is always there - I'm seeking
that stickiness leaves you a usable system, not a "pretty" system.)
On the same topic, the flip side of removing too much is installing too
much. Building a "stripped down" server off Fedora or RHEL is a PITA
because various systems are prerequisites lots of "high level" tools.
For example, a rack mount server often has NO use for cups, and I
usually want to toss it. But if I do that various system-* tools go too,
and many GUI things, because they all _require_ cups.
There are numerous similar examples, some far more egrarious. I had a
classic the other day, but is escapes me just now.
What is needed is a "recommended" dependency, and a switch to control
whether it means install, ignore or warn. And probably default to warn.
So I'd go:
yum remove cups
and it would do it, but not prune various control-panel type tools that
offer printer control, for example, but emit a warning.
Cheers,
I feel that there is a tool for this and that is rpm. You can use rpm
to make a list of what packages are needed and then you can either
remove them individually using the various flags as wanted/needed.
Again, removing X may be used if someone decides to move a computer from
a desktop role to a server role.
In all cases, read what you are doing before you do it. I have made the
mistake in the past of not reading the dependencies and just typing in
the "Y" and getting into trouble. Now I prefer to use a GUI for yum as
it makes it easier to look through some bigger lists and be more
selective. But there are times when I use the CLI.
--
Due to the move to M$ Exchange Server,
anything that is a priority, please phone.
Robin Laing
