BUG #6341: Packaging - virtual provides "postgres" without version

On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 11:27 AM, <nelson-m-marques@ext.ptinovacao.pt> wrote:

The following bug has been logged on the website:

Bug reference:      6341
Logged by:          Nelson Marques
Email address:      nelson-m-marques@ext.ptinovacao.pt
PostgreSQL version: 8.4.10
Operating system:   Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Description:

Hi all,

Currently your binary distribution of PostgreSQL for Enterprise Linux has a
virtual provides for 'postgresql' which has no version associated with it
(there's good and bad things depending on usage regarding this
methodology).

Is there a special reason for having a virtual provides without versioning?
For my specific usage, have the "postgresql" virtual provides with a version
associated (the same of the original package) would be of great value, and
this situation might end up in forcing me to repackage the whole thing.

Would upstream consider during next updates to make this virtual provides
associated with the version of the main package? (I don't mind doing the
necessary changes on the spec file, testing and even help maintaining it for
upstream).

The PostgreSQL project doesn't have any direct control over Red Hat's
spec files, although Tom Lane, a PostgreSQL core team member, also
works at Red Hat. I would suggest that you take this up with Red Hat
directly...

--
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company

Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes:

On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 11:27 AM, <nelson-m-marques@ext.ptinovacao.pt> wrote:

Currently your binary distribution of PostgreSQL for Enterprise Linux has a
virtual provides for 'postgresql' which has no version associated with it
(there's good and bad things depending on usage regarding this
methodology).

The PostgreSQL project doesn't have any direct control over Red Hat's
spec files, although Tom Lane, a PostgreSQL core team member, also
works at Red Hat. I would suggest that you take this up with Red Hat
directly...

There is no such Provides: in the Red Hat spec files, so I would assume
that this complaint is actually about the PGDG RPMs. Devrim?

regards, tom lane

Hi,

Feel free to ignore this 'bug report', it's most likely INVALID, as I assumed it was a binary release from upstream, which is incorrect. In fact I was referring to the 'PGDG' RPM's. Mainly the situation is that the PostgreSQL provided by Red Hat on RHEL5 doesn't suit our needs, and while PGDG offers a more attractive choice, it also became not an option due to the packaging methodology applied (the usage of 'alternatives'). So we've decided to build our own packages for the future according to our real needs, including a bit more of configuration effort and we will most likely share them through our repositories for maybe someone who might have very close needs.

My apologies for rushing in filing a bug report based on innacurate information, I should've done the research before and not after the bug report submission.

I would also take this opportunity to express my sincere votes of a Merry Christmas and a Happy Year to the developing team of PostgreSQL, all the packagers and distributors and everyone else in the ecosystem.

Best Regards,
NM

Melhores cumprimentos,
Nelson M. Marques
________________________________________
De: Tom Lane [tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us]
Enviado: sexta-feira, 23 de Dezembro de 2011 17:46
Para: Robert Haas
Cc: Nelson Manuel Marques; pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org; pgsqlrpms-hackers@pgfoundry.org
Assunto: Re: [BUGS] BUG #6341: Packaging - virtual provides "postgres" without version

Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes:

On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 11:27 AM, <nelson-m-marques@ext.ptinovacao.pt> wrote:

Currently your binary distribution of PostgreSQL for Enterprise Linux has a
virtual provides for 'postgresql' which has no version associated with it
(there's good and bad things depending on usage regarding this
methodology).

The PostgreSQL project doesn't have any direct control over Red Hat's
spec files, although Tom Lane, a PostgreSQL core team member, also
works at Red Hat. I would suggest that you take this up with Red Hat
directly...

There is no such Provides: in the Red Hat spec files, so I would assume
that this complaint is actually about the PGDG RPMs. Devrim?

regards, tom lane

Tom,

You are right, my apologies for rushing in with innacurate information. There is no problem with Red Hat's RPM's, in fact we decided to repackage PostgreSQL for our needs based on the current work by Red Hat and Fedora (spec file / integration), though with a few minor changes.

The main problem was that the 'PGDG' RPMS have a "Provides: postgresql" without a version. For what I've seen this suggests they are using the 'alternatives' methodology (somehow popular with JAVA), which we don't sympathize. I guess it's the beaty of free software, if you don't like, we can always work it out our own way.

I should've digged up more information before filing this report.

Thanks for your great work with PostgreSQL and Fedora/RH packaging.

BR,
NM

Melhores cumprimentos,
Nelson M. Marques
________________________________________
De: Tom Lane [tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us]
Enviado: sexta-feira, 23 de Dezembro de 2011 17:46
Para: Robert Haas
Cc: Nelson Manuel Marques; pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org; pgsqlrpms-hackers@pgfoundry.org
Assunto: Re: [BUGS] BUG #6341: Packaging - virtual provides "postgres" without version

Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes:

On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 11:27 AM, <nelson-m-marques@ext.ptinovacao.pt> wrote:

Currently your binary distribution of PostgreSQL for Enterprise Linux has a
virtual provides for 'postgresql' which has no version associated with it
(there's good and bad things depending on usage regarding this
methodology).

The PostgreSQL project doesn't have any direct control over Red Hat's
spec files, although Tom Lane, a PostgreSQL core team member, also
works at Red Hat. I would suggest that you take this up with Red Hat
directly...

There is no such Provides: in the Red Hat spec files, so I would assume
that this complaint is actually about the PGDG RPMs. Devrim?

regards, tom lane

On Fri, 2011-12-23 at 12:46 -0500, Tom Lane wrote:

There is no such Provides: in the Red Hat spec files, so I would
assume that this complaint is actually about the PGDG RPMs. Devrim?

That's PGDG spec, right. Will reply to the first email.

--
Devrim GÜNDÜZ
Principal Systems Engineer @ EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
PostgreSQL Danışmanı/Consultant, Red Hat Certified Engineer
Community: devrim~PostgreSQL.org, devrim.gunduz~linux.org.tr
http://www.gunduz.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/devrimgunduz

On Thu, 2011-12-15 at 16:27 +0000, nelson-m-marques@ext.ptinovacao.pt
wrote:

Is there a special reason for having a virtual provides without
versioning?

PGDG RPMs in RHEL 6 can be installed in parallel, i.e., you can have 8.4
+ on the same machine. OTOH, os supplied RPMs does not have any version
number, and there are lots of packages that need postgresql-libs or
postgresql, etc. We "Provide" version-less packages to satisfy os
dependencies.

Regards,
--
Devrim GÜNDÜZ
Principal Systems Engineer @ EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
PostgreSQL Danışmanı/Consultant, Red Hat Certified Engineer
Community: devrim~PostgreSQL.org, devrim.gunduz~linux.org.tr
http://www.gunduz.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/devrimgunduz