[RULE] Again 1.0

[Eugene Wong]

Hi Marco.

Here is Again 1.0

I've also included the updated text that describes it. You should be able to 
just cut & paste it.

Also, at the present time, the link to the source is: 
http://www.rule-project.org/en/www.rule-project.org/download/again
This produces an error.


Sincerely, and with thanks,
Eugene T.S. Wong

----begin cut & paste----
Contributed by Eugene Wong.

This script is only for uninstalling rpms that the user *knows* he will 
never need.

Unless anybody has any suggestions, I'll just call it, "Again", because we 
need to keep uninstalling certain rpms after each installation, again, & 
again. I'm open to suggestions for the name.

One thing that I wanted to do was store the rpm name without the version 
info. In other words, I personally would want Again to remember that hotplug 
is what we want to uninstall, not just hotplug-2001_04_24-11. If the version 
information is stored, then the next time your system is upgraded, Again 
will look for a package of that version and ignore the newer version, 
defeating the purpose of using Again. Again takes advantage of rpm's --qf 
option [which is the same as the --queryformat option] which allows Again to 
figure out the package name without the version info. In this example it 
will "rpm -e" the hotplug rpm regardless of the version.

On the mailing list, it was decided to just take the packages list from 
Slinky and comment out everything by default. Unfortunately the idea made it 
very difficult to keep the list immune to version changes, & very difficult 
to add to it without making it too long. Since the user is supposed to know 
for sure what isn't needed, then it would be wise to capitalize on this & 
pass the responsibility on to him. He should find out ahead of time if he 
needs it, then he uses Again, then it gets added to a list & uninstalled.

To uninstall all packages in the list, the user should just type, "again 
-a". This will use "rpm -e" for each package in the list. This option is 
good for new installations, upgrades, or when large groups of packages are 
installed all at once.

To uninstall or erase a package, the user should just type, "again -e 
foobar". This will add foobar to /var/db/again.lst and then proceed to 
execute "rpm -e foobar".

To list the files in /var/db/again.lst, just type, "again -l".

There are still a few things that need to be done.
1.) Add long option support. In other words, the user should be able to 
type, "again --erase foobar" or "again -e foobar". He should be able to 
choose whichever he prefers, instead of just "again -e foobar". If we add 
this, it should be considered a bug fix, not adding of features

2.) It may be good to have a "compile" script that will customize this for 
other package managers, & to remove comments, to keep the file small.

3.) There may need to be some more error checking in some cases. It's good 
enough for most people, though. If we add this, it should be considered a 
bugfix, not adding of features.

Any suggestions are welcome. For the most part, as far as I can tell, this 
is basically finished. Other needs could probably be met by making more 
software packages.
----end cut & paste----

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again
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