[maemo-developers] Busybox version

[From: Eero Tamminen]

Hi,

ext Marius Vollmer wrote:
>> The whole point of my "alternatives" proposal is that it doesn't need
>> to remove the lock.  No Nokia components are ever removed, and Nokia
>> OS upgrades continue to upgrade the Nokia-provided alternatives as
>> usual, but the user can choose (through the alternatives mechanism) to
>> not use those but to use others instead.
> 
> This would be specific to busybox and would need cooperation from
> Nokia.  I think it would be better to find an arrangement that works in
> general and that doesn't require waiting for Nokia to do something.
> 
>> If my alternatives proposal is too complex, I do have another option: the 
>> ported packages are changed to install the utilities into /usr/local/ and 
>> users (or packages) which want to use them learn to put /usr/local/bin in 
>> their path before the standard locations.
> 
> What about dpkg-divert, or just using Replace (without Conflict) to
> overwrite the busybox symlinks from your package. 

dpkg-divert requires modifying each package replacing anything from
Busybox, updates-alternatives requires modifying both busybox and
each package replacing anything from Busybox.  The symbol links
proposal requires changing just busybox package but doesn't work
as well for OS upgrades.

However, I don't think that is a problem because busybox symlink
packages split up doesn't prevent from using dpkg-diverts in the
replacements or putting them to /usr/local.  So, I think the split
up is the best solution to start with.

Somebody could also add later the alternatives support to busybox in
addition to the symlinks package split up. Though first I would like
to see a list of which busybox utilities need this with some
explanations why (it isn't e.g. something that should be fixed in
Busybox itself).  Maybe there could be a wiki page listing Busybox
shortcomings?

Graham?


	- Eero