On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 01:04:42 +0000 Colin Watson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
: Debian packages aren't relocatable, I'm afraid. Their maintainer : scripts frequently contain absolute paths or call other utilities : that expect certain absolute paths, and changing this would be a : ginormous amount of effort that isn't likely to happen any time : soon. Bummer. I didn't want to mess with the base system libraries, utilities, /bin, /sbin etc, just the optional software. I can certainly see that basic systemic functionality requires a ridgid sub/superstructure. I had hoped that a couple of additions to my $PATH and a few symlinks would have solved the problem. It's the configurable side that I wanted to be able to protect from system upgrades - the same as my/home data. I don't like 'blanket' upgrades where you've got to reconfigure many essential progs from scratch again. Seems like such a waste of time. : This isn't specific to apt; it's inherent in the structure of our : current packaging scheme (so closer to dpkg than apt). Sorry. Hmmm. Do you know if tarballs would suffer from the same problem? This might be a good reason to experiment with LFS. Or not. Perhaps I could remove the dpkg version of a prg, but install the tarball in a /pkg directory using the -root /otherroot option on installpkg. Have the best of both worlds so to speak. Apt for a base system, tarballs for configurables. Add /pkg, /pkg/bin to $PATH, and so on. Or would two package managers conflict do you think? Can a two directory system work? Is /bin,/usr/bin, and /pkg/bin any different from what we have now? I'd like to stick with apt if I can. :) Checking the dpkg man page as you suggest, I find dpkg has similar options with --root, --admindir and --instdir. Do these options create a second 'root' directory or merely move complete /usr functionality to /otherroot? In other words, do they create a one or two directory system (/usr plus /otherroot) and will a two directory system work? : In the special case where you want to move *everything* to a : particular tree, then you could use a chroot. : No not everything. /usr has become a catchall unforturnately. Anyway I appreciate your comments. Thanks. bill -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]