Yum dependency resolving & remove_leaf_only

[Reindl Harald]

Am 12.10.2013 18:42, schrieb P J P:
> It is an often experience that I try to remove a package(ex: bluez, kernel, gnome-bluetooth) and yum(8) prompts me to remove nearly 200-300MB worth of critical packages, which has no connection(ex. kernel => Xchat  OR bluez => gedit  etc.) with the package I want to remove. Recently I was told to set remove_leaf_only=1 in yum.conf, which should help remove only the leaf node packages and nothing else. So I set it. 
> 
> But after setting remove_leaf_only=1, I can remove _none_ of the packages because of the dependency issues. Even when I try to remove _all_ of the dependency packages I'm barely allowed to remove but a single package. (see below)
> 
> I wonder why is this so? Is this an error in the way packages are built  OR  isit yum(8)'s dependency resolving algorithm that is broken? I've also seen instances wherein yum installs _new_ package during yum update. All this does not seem good at all. Many of the folks, with whom I've argued for Fedora, cite yum(8) to be the foremost reason for not liking Fedora.

dependency chains

* many packages depend on others
* they are depend on others too
* they are depend on libraries
* you want to remove something which provides required libraries/binaries

that's why i get that mad if packagers careless add new deps because
they enable whatever function in a package instead split the new
ones in additional subpackages

on a tiny setup one small added dependency often pulls *a lot* of
other dependencies the user did not use and install for good reasons
like keep the footprint small and make dist-upgrades fast

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 263 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/devel/attachments/20131012/cffbad4c/attachment-0001.sig>