On Tue, 2008-08-12 at 12:52 -0400, Steve C. Lamb wrote: > On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 06:46:51PM +0200, Aniruddha wrote: > > They can overwrite existing (core) system files and possibly cause other > > harm. > > No, they can't. Not without your expressed consent... > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~} dpkg --force-help > dpkg forcing options - control behaviour when problems found: > warn but continue: --force-<thing>,<thing>,... > stop with error: --refuse-<thing>,<thing>,... | --no-force-<thing>,... > Forcing things: > all [!] Set all force options > downgrade [*] Replace a package with a lower version > configure-any Configure any package which may help this one > hold Process incidental packages even when on hold > bad-path PATH is missing important programs, problems likely > not-root Try to (de)install things even when not root > overwrite Overwrite a file from one package with another > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > ...if they could there would be no reason for dpkg to have > --force-overwrite. >
Well, that's another discussion altogether. To give you an idea why I am asking this here's an excerpt from "Debian system concepts and techniques" from Martin Krafft: > checkinstall is limited in what it can do. To be precise, the packages it > creates > can only install files, and checkinstall does not care where it installs > them. You > can overwrite files in home directories with checkinstall, among other > things. The > generated packages cannot modify files. If the installation routine modifies > existing > files, they will be part of the generated package in their entirety. A horror > scenario > occurs when an installation routine adds a user by modification of > /etc/passwd, > which is subsequently included in the package. Installation of the package > causes > /etc/passwd to be completely replaced, and the deinstallation of the package > re- > moves the file, breaking the system in half. Therefor I can imagine that debs not created by Debian devs can contain possible disastrous changes. -- Regards, Aniruddha -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
