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You probably don't want to hear this, so I'll just keep it short. While
everyone talks about DLL hell on Windows, no-one is apparently looking at
problems with uninstalling packages using rpm under RedHat Linux 5.1. I am
using rpm 2.5.2 with the latest rpm update. This got started when I
installed all the bits for gnome 0.30. I found out after I'd installed gnome
with all its support files that I could not install The Gimp 1.0.1. Well,
the conflict was between the versions of the GTK libraries that Gnome uses
and Gimp uses. I figured that since I already had KDE up and running that I
didn't need Gnome, so I set about uninstalling (erasing) all the Gnome
files, which I'd carefully kept in a separate directory for just such a
situation. Turns out that 'rpm --erase' doesn't do anything of the sort.
Even after I'd queried the packages (rpm -qlp) to get the lists of binaries
and libraries, and after going through the system by hand (with some help
from Perl) and deleting all the files, the rpm database still thought all
those packages were installed. I eventually wound up installing older
versions of the gtk libs and then gimp using 'rpm -ivh --force'.

I'd like to make the following observations.

1) When I uninstall a package, I expect the entry to be expunged from the
rpm database and all elements of the package to be removed from the system.
This includes all header files, links, shell scripts, config files, and help
files.

2) If libraries are involved, I expect ldconfig to be run automatically to
rebuild the lib cache.

3) Rpm definitely needs more work.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If Windows can be
mercilessly dissected and criticized for its shortcomings, then RedHat Linux
should expect no less.


--
"It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, it is by
the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands
acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning ..."
--Carlos Nunes-Ueno

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