Virtual provides for files in /var/log

[Panu Matilainen]

On 07/18/2013 03:28 PM, Lennart Poettering wrote:
> On Thu, 18.07.13 14:23, Vít Ondruch (vondruch at redhat.com) wrote:
>
>> Dne 18.7.2013 14:19, Lennart Poettering napsal(a):
>>> On Thu, 18.07.13 10:34, Vít Ondruch (vondruch at redhat.com) wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dne 18.7.2013 01:02, Lennart Poettering napsal(a):
>>>>> So, maybe, instead of dropping the "Provides syslog" thing from
>>>>> journald, maybe we should add an explicit "syslog-files" dependency (or
>>>>> something named like that) and then make the classic syslog
>>>>> implementations provide that and the packages which actually need
>>>>> /var/log/messages pull that it?
>>>>>
>>>>> Lennart
>>>>>
>>>> So why there are files in /var/log and there is not obvious package,
>>>> which creates them (unless you want to guess by name)? Shouldn't all
>>>> package, which creates log in /var/log have some virtual provide to
>>>> make it obvious? Why not do it properly/consistently?
>>> So, you suggest using "Requires: /var/log/messages" and "Provides:
>>> /var/log/messages" as indication for this, and the %ghost
>>> /var/log/messages in the packages in question?
>>>
>>> Sounds good to me! Matthew?
>>>
>>> Lennart
>>>
>>
>> I would suggest it, but it is not recommended by guidelines :( so I
>> suggest some (not yet) standardized virtual provide, which will be
>> more descriptive than "syslog-files"
>>
>> Vít
>>
>> [1] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Guidelines#File_Dependencies
>
> I guess this comment doesn't apply if we explicitly add Provides:
> /var/log/messages to all packages that provide the file. Hmm, or maybe
> no, I don't grok RPM well enough...

Well the guideline is really just a recommendation for optimizing yum 
behavior, nothing more. But yes, an explicit "Provides: /some/path" goes 
into the main repository metadata so resolving a dependency on that path 
doesn't require downloading the big bad file lists.

	- Panu -