registry team mailing list archive

Thread
Date

[Bug 630326] Re: [MASTER] Conflict between dpkg install-info and GNU install-info

To: registry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: era <630326@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 04 Sep 2010 17:14:59 -0000
Reply-to: Bug 630326 <630326@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sender: bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

** Description changed:

Binary package hint: dpkg

GNU install-info (originally shipped with texinfo; now a separate
package in Debian) and dpkg install-info are incompatible.

Symptom:
Package installation fails with the error message "install-info: no dir file specified"

Workaround:
Rename or remove GNU install-info at least temporarily. Often it will have been installed as /usr/local/bin/install-info

Root cause:
dpkg pre 1.15 used to ship its own, incompatible version of install-info. Various postinst etc scripts would invoke install-info with parameters which are acceptable to dpkg install-info, but incompatible with GNU install-info. Hence, if the PATH was set up so that a locally-installed GNU install-info got invoked from the postinst script, it would fail.

+ This typically happens to users who have installed a third-party package
+ such as TexLive2008 in /usr/local
+
I believe a permanent fix is going to be shipped with dpkg 1.15, slated
(as I now understand it) for inclusion in Maverick. The fix is for dpkg
to also use GNU install-info.

See also http://wiki.debian.org/Transitions/DpkgToGnuInstallInfo

I'm taking the liberty to create a new bug report to collect duplicates
reported against various packages. This is a known problem, it is
already fixed upstream; I just want there to be a central MASTER bug to
collect all such reports.

** Bug watch added: Debian Bug tracker #9771
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=9771

** Also affects: dpkg (Debian) via
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=9771
Importance: Unknown
Status: Unknown

** Description changed:

Binary package hint: dpkg

GNU install-info (originally shipped with texinfo; now a separate
package in Debian) and dpkg install-info are incompatible.

Symptom:
Package installation fails with the error message "install-info: no dir file specified"

Workaround:
Rename or remove GNU install-info at least temporarily. Often it will have been installed as /usr/local/bin/install-info

Root cause:
- dpkg pre 1.15 used to ship its own, incompatible version of install-info. Various postinst etc scripts would invoke install-info with parameters which are acceptable to dpkg install-info, but incompatible with GNU install-info. Hence, if the PATH was set up so that a locally-installed GNU install-info got invoked from the postinst script, it would fail.
+ dpkg pre 1.15.4 used to ship its own, incompatible version of install-info. Various postinst etc scripts would invoke install-info with parameters which are acceptable to dpkg install-info, but incompatible with GNU install-info. Hence, if the PATH was set up so that a locally-installed GNU install-info got invoked from the postinst script, it would fail.

This typically happens to users who have installed a third-party package
such as TexLive2008 in /usr/local

- I believe a permanent fix is going to be shipped with dpkg 1.15, slated
- (as I now understand it) for inclusion in Maverick. The fix is for dpkg
- to also use GNU install-info.
+ As far as the upstream Debian infrastructure is concerned, an important
+ milestone is dpkg 1.15.4 which was included in Karmic. The fix is for
+ dpkg to also use GNU install-info.
+
+ However, this still fails to address the situation when an incompatible
+ install-info is in dpkg's PATH before the Debian versions.

See also http://wiki.debian.org/Transitions/DpkgToGnuInstallInfo

--
[MASTER] Conflict between dpkg install-info and GNU install-info
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/630326
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Registry
Administrators, which is the registrant for Debian.