https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=235937 sh@novell.com changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AssignedTo|yast2-maintainers@suse.de |kkaempf@novell.com Component|YaST2 |libzypp ------- Comment #3 from sh@novell.com 2007-01-25 07:43 MST ------- This is a pretty old discussion; it arises whenever we do major changes to the package management and patches subsystem. It might be possible to keep track of the history of packages, patches, patterns and similar objects. Having that history available would be a prerequirement to have that "undo patch" capability that you have in mind, or an even more general "undo package management action" capability. This would even work if the only thing we would have to be concerned with would be static objects like RPM packages or patches that contain RPMs or patch RPMs: We would somehow have to locate the version that was previously installed and downgrade to that version. But unfortunately things are not that easy. Many patches contain scripts; worse, some patches consist only of scripts. And those scripts can do anything. There is no generic way to undo all the changes such a script could possibly do, and that would be needed to get the system back to the exact previous state. To some extent, the same even holds true for plain RPMs: They also can have pre-install and post-install scripts. The general idea there is that they should also have pre-uninstall and post-uninstall scripts to undo what their counterparts did. The same logic would have to be applied to patches: Each patch script would need an "undo" script. Of course, the more sophisticated the scripts become, the more complex a corresponding "undo" script would have to be. The sequence of how all this is executed is another key issue; you would have to undo all actions until that point that you want undone. It could not be a generic "safely uninstall patch" feature, only a rollback to a previous state. How other tools cooperate is another issue. If you use only YaST2, zypper, zmd/rug that use libzypp, things could be handled. If on the other hand you occasionally use plain "rpm" on the command line or via other tools like "kpackage" and similar, some vital information about the history of package management on your system might get lost. This is all a very complex topic. We have it on the radar, but we can't make any promises. -> kkaempf for further tracking (there might even be a Fate ID yet) -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug, or are watching someone who is.