[EROS-Arch] Package handling...

[Joerg Bornschein]

On Wed, Mar 28, 2001 at 08:42:30AM -0500, Jonathan S. Shapiro wrote:

> > I think the most important unsolved(?) problem is that constructors don't
> > know whether there are instances running or not....
> 
> There is a large, dangerous snark here.
> 
> Forget about the security implications for a moment. Consider first the
> implications of warranty.
> 
> If I build a program that relies on a component, I have tested my
> program against a particular version of that component. The updated
> component may be better, but it may or may not have been tested under
> the same assumptions as my program, and it may or may not *work* in my
> program. Therefore, the component must not be updated in the context of
> my program until my program agrees to the update.

I wrote that several times in EPkgMgt.html:

> 3.Updating
>    I think updating linked factories is a _really bad idea_. The normal 
>    update path should be: 
>        1.install new packages 
>        2.successive build new factories and link them to the new packages. 
>        3.if everything worked as expected, delete old factories. 

Anyway, at some point after having explicit linked new constructors to my
shiny new component, i would like to delete the old ones.

But i cant do this -- my packet manager cant be sure if some user (currently
not logged in) is using this constructors product. How long should it wait?
A week? Two weeks? A month?


  joerg