[Dbconfig-common-devel] virtual package for database clients

[sean finney]

hey matt,


On Wed, 2006-11-15 at 19:38 +1300, Matt Brown wrote:
> I'm wondering about the feasibility of having dbconfig-common provide a
> virtual package that depends on the clients for the database types that
> dbconfig-common supports.

the biggest problem with this is the database types an individual
package supports is not necessarily the same as the package types
dbconfig-common supports.  so if we wanted to do this we'd have to
provide a series of empty metapackages for the common dependency
combinations (mysql, mysql | pgsql, mysql | pgsql | sqlite, etc), which
i think is worse than just having the packages depend on the existing
packages. 

> I currently have the problem with PHPwiki that to make the package
> install cleanly via piuparts I need to depend on of (sqlite, mysql or
> postgres). I don't want to depend on all three, and I can't see any
> logical way to single out one of them to require.

why not depend on yourfavorite | secondchoice | thirdchoice?

> If dbconfig-common were to provide a package (eg.
> dbconfig-common-dbclient) that ensured that at least one of the
> supported db clients was installed then combined with the suggested fix
> in #353617 (quoted below) packages would have a foolproof way of
> ensuring that they were always installable with a database.
> 
> - during installation (config script), dbconfig-common will examine
>    the list of supported database types vs the installed cmdline tools.
> - if the intersection of these sets is empty, the admin will be prompted
>   with a notice telling them what programs/packages are required, and
>   dbconfig-common will exit gracefully.  the package will install as if
>   they had opted out of assistance, but if reconfigured later and the
>   programs exist, they will have the choice to install as if it were a
>   new installation.
> - if the intersection is non-empty, but different than the full list of
>   supported types, the admin will be prompted with a similar message,
>   but they will be given the choice to continue with the intersection
>   of supported types.

if there are dependencies in place like i suggest above, i don't see
what the first two items will get us.  also, note that you're not
guaranteed that the cmdline tools will be unpacked yet in the case that
they're being installed at the same time.

for the third item, it would be informative, but i could also see it
getting a bit annoying if i were to install a mysql-or-pgsql application
and have only mysql installed.


	sean
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