Re: apt-get update (was Re: [Gnumed-devel] Gnumed-update)

[Karsten Hilbert]

> On Debian, can a regular user (lacking sudo and root access) update a
> piece of software, i.e. their gnumed-client,

"Their" gnumed-client would be a locally installed, say, tarball, so, yes.

I think you did mean the system-installed one, however, so, no :)

> or would the user be limited to (for example) downloading tarballs?

Yes.
 
> Does apt-get update <a newer client> cause a loss of the user's prior
> local .config files

No.

>, or do these get copied into the new client (an answer
> which surely is distro-packager-dependent)?

The new client uses the same user-side config files unless it uses
different ones. They don't get copied unless a package maintainer
does so. The Debian packages don't, currently, AFAIK.

> When a user would apt-get-or-equivalent update to a newer gnumed-client,
> and if the newer gnumed client would refuse to run (owing to a wait for a db
> fixup), what would have happened to the old client? Would it have been
> overwritten?

apt-get would have overwritten the old client.

> If we set aside people with the adeptness to run from tarballs, what
> recourse is suggested for the simpler user to recover from a premature apt-get
> client update? Must the user do apt-get remove, and then apt-get install
> the-earlier-version,

This might be an option but not without some apt configuration either.

> and then regenerate their local preferences through any
> combination of
> - retrieval of .config from a backup
> - manual editing of the .config file

Most of this is unlikely to be needed.

> - resave via GNUmed menus any applicable local preferences

This is very unlikely to be needed.

There is no clear recipe possible. It depends on the circumstances.

Karsten
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