archlinux: towards no longer modifying /etc/pacman.conf

[Patrick Schleizer]

Modifications of configuration files shipped by upstream packages such
as for example /etc/dnf/dnf.conf (package dnf, upstream: Fedora) by
downstream distributions (Qubes) is always problematic. When upstream
changes the file, it will conflict during upgrading.

I am trying to get rid of the update_conf code. [1] Therefore I posted
two feature requests against dnf and PackageKit. [2] [3]

What is not covered is not modifying /etc/pacman.conf. I was wondering,
is that required at all? I am not a archlinux user but I have seen there
also is /etc/pacman.d. Could a file /etc/pacman.d/qubes-proxy.conf also
work?

Could you test this please, Olivier?

Cheers,
Patrick

[1]
https://github.com/marmarek/qubes-core-agent-linux/blob/57e50269638ebaf77faa1a83ac8384b3920f6888/network/update-proxy-configs#L32-L69

[2] Fedora feature request: implement /etc/dnf.conf.d drop-in
configuration folder
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1352234

[3] PackageKit feature request: implement /etc/PackageKit/conf.d
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=96788

[Olivier Médoc]

On 07/03/2016 12:11 AM, Patrick Schleizer wrote:
> Modifications of configuration files shipped by upstream packages such
> as for example /etc/dnf/dnf.conf (package dnf, upstream: Fedora) by
> downstream distributions (Qubes) is always problematic. When upstream
> changes the file, it will conflict during upgrading.
>
> I am trying to get rid of the update_conf code. [1] Therefore I posted
> two feature requests against dnf and PackageKit. [2] [3]
>
> What is not covered is not modifying /etc/pacman.conf. I was wondering,
> is that required at all? I am not a archlinux user but I have seen there
> also is /etc/pacman.d. Could a file /etc/pacman.d/qubes-proxy.conf also
> work?
>
> Could you test this please, Olivier?

Hello,

I through it was only possible for repositories, but I just found the
following in man pacman.conf man page:

Include = path
Include another configuration file. This file can include
repositories or general configuration options. Wildcards in the
specified paths will get expanded based on glob(7) rules.

Based on the man page pacman.d configuration files should accept global
configuration options on the condition I Include the file inside
pacman.conf (meaning it wont follow upstream pacman.conf)

Another good new is that pacman now support hooks, so it may be possible
to add additional update hook (such as qubes-trigger-sync-appmenus.sh).
That's on my todo list.

Anyway, I need to test it first. I will also check the links you
referenced later to better understand your point.

Olivier

[Patrick Schleizer]

'Olivier Médoc' via qubes-devel:

Great.

> I will also check the links you
> referenced later to better understand your point.

Feel free. There is not much to see. I was requesting .d folders where
there are none yet. The goal is to avoid modifying a configuration file
owned by another package so Qubes can just drop its configuration
snippets there.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Olivier Médoc]

On 07/03/2016 12:11 AM, Patrick Schleizer wrote:

> Modifications of configuration files shipped by upstream packages such
> as for example /etc/dnf/dnf.conf (package dnf, upstream: Fedora) by
> downstream distributions (Qubes) is always problematic. When upstream
> changes the file, it will conflict during upgrading.
>
> I am trying to get rid of the update_conf code. [1] Therefore I posted
> two feature requests against dnf and PackageKit. [2] [3]
>
> What is not covered is not modifying /etc/pacman.conf. I was wondering,
> is that required at all? I am not a archlinux user but I have seen there
> also is /etc/pacman.d. Could a file /etc/pacman.d/qubes-proxy.conf also
> work?
>
> Could you test this please, Olivier?

Hello,

I confirm this is not possible.

I get the following errors from pacman meaning Includes are not
supported for options, only for mirrors:
warning: config file /etc/pacman.conf, line 51: directive 'Include
/etc/pacman.d/qubes-updateproxy.conf' in section 'options' not recognized.
warning: config file /etc/pacman.conf, line 52: directive 'Include
/etc/pacman.d/qubes-noupdate.conf' in section 'options' not recognized.
warning: config file /etc/pacman.conf, line 53: directive 'Include
/etc/pacman.d/qubes-repositories.conf' in section 'options' not recognized.

I opened a feature request ( I've done a copy/paste of your text :) )
https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/50018

[Patrick Schleizer]

'Olivier Médoc' via qubes-devel:

> On 07/03/2016 12:11 AM, Patrick Schleizer wrote:
>> Modifications of configuration files shipped by upstream packages such
>> as for example /etc/dnf/dnf.conf (package dnf, upstream: Fedora) by
>> downstream distributions (Qubes) is always problematic. When upstream
>> changes the file, it will conflict during upgrading.
>>
>> I am trying to get rid of the update_conf code. [1] Therefore I posted
>> two feature requests against dnf and PackageKit. [2] [3]
>>
>> What is not covered is not modifying /etc/pacman.conf. I was wondering,
>> is that required at all? I am not a archlinux user but I have seen there
>> also is /etc/pacman.d. Could a file /etc/pacman.d/qubes-proxy.conf also
>> work?
>>
>> Could you test this please, Olivier?
> Hello,
>
> I confirm this is not possible.
>
> I get the following errors from pacman meaning Includes are not
> supported for options, only for mirrors:
> warning: config file /etc/pacman.conf, line 51: directive 'Include
> /etc/pacman.d/qubes-updateproxy.conf' in section 'options' not recognized.
> warning: config file /etc/pacman.conf, line 52: directive 'Include
> /etc/pacman.d/qubes-noupdate.conf' in section 'options' not recognized.
> warning: config file /etc/pacman.conf, line 53: directive 'Include
> /etc/pacman.d/qubes-repositories.conf' in section 'options' not recognized.
>
> I opened a feature request ( I've done a copy/paste of your text :) )
> https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/50018

Awesome.

https://github.com/marmarek/qubes-core-agent-linux/pull/78

Thank you! So we can consider this case closed for now.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

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Given discussion in that ticket and commits in
https://github.com/marmarek/qubes-core-agent-linux/pull/77, it is
already possible, so ...

> https://github.com/marmarek/qubes-core-agent-linux/pull/78

... is no longer applicable.

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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[Olivier Médoc]

Yes, I mistyped the include in pacman.conf during my tests and drop-ins
were in fact feasible.

I will however check if the Archlinux dev team can enable drop-ins by
default as suggested in [1]. Because we still need to change pacman.conf
to enable drop-ins (implemented in core-agent-linux archlinux package
installation script).

[1] https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/50018