Re: OWN_DIRS doesn't protect directories as advertised

[Joerg Sonnenberger <joerg%britannica.bec.de@localhost>]

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 04:22:40PM +0200, John Marino wrote:
> On 11/17/2011 17:36, John Marino wrote:
> >On 11/17/2011 3:31 PM, Joerg Sonnenberger wrote:
> >>On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 06:17:19PM +0900, OBATA Akio wrote:
> >>>I feel that pkg_delete(1) should be fixed.
> >>>Before removal of directory, check not only empty, but also refcount db.
> >>
> >>I disagree. This instances should be properly using @pkgdir.
> >>
> >>Joerg
> >
> >
> >For OBATA's suggestion, it has two problems:
> >1) It only works for new bootstraps or if the pkg_delete is updated
> >(which would be never for most cases I would think)
> >2) If the refcount db gets corrupted, the whole thing could be broken
> >forever?  I don't know the tech behind it or if one can rebuild the
> >database, but I've never been a fan of refcounts.
> >
> >I also disagree with Joerg that these packages were done wrong.  If you
> >read the pkgsrc guide for OWN_DIRS and MAKE_DIRS, it was a legitimate
> >decision to choose this method of creating directories.
> >
> >The whole thing is kind of a mess.  There are too many ways to do the
> >same thing, each with their own idiosyncrasies.  And according to
> >section 13.8 of the pkgsrc guide, it does not indicate that this will
> >successfully protect the directory from inadvertent deletion any more
> >than OWN_DIRS does.  In fact, some of this packages where I modified the
> >DEINSTALL were using the @pkgdir technique, and the missing directory
> >errors were there.  So count me skeptical that @pkgdir will actually
> >solve this problem.
> >
> >John
> 
> 
> To revisit an old topic, I'd like to start fixing packages with the
> possibility of missing directories.
> 
> An example (assuming php5 isn't already installed):
> 1) install lang/php5
> 2) install databases/php-sqlite
> 3) uninstall databases/php-sqlite
> 4) Notice that lib/php/20040412 directory is missing.  This
> directory is the content of lang/php5's OWN_DIRS variable.
> 
> Can we put a dummy file such as ".keep" in directories like these to
> prevent them from getting removed by pkgsrc's garbage collector?
> Maybe it's not elegant, but it will work.

As I said, use @pkgdir in lang/php5. That will work reliable to keep the
directory around.

Joerg