Ian Jackson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Do dpkg-ftp or dpkg-mountable modify /var/lib/dpkg/available > directly ?
No, it doesn't. It keeps its own copies of the Packages files in /var/lib/dpkg/methods/ftp and correctly merges them in with --merge-avail. > If you tried to dpkg --merge-available or dpkg --update-available > with a Packages file that the currently-installed dpkg wasn't able > to parse it would refuse to do it, and leave you with a working > dpkg. Apparently not. Remember that older versions of dpkg did claim to support epochs. Various developers quickly found that it didn't work very well, so Michael D. was kind enough to get epochs working in 1.4.0.7. Nobody realized, however, that older versions were broken in this particular way, and that the --assert-working-epoch check in the preinst wasn't enough. I'll ignore the second half of your post. Guy -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
