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Err, are there any systems that try to cut over to a new package before it's been built successfully?
by millstone 11y ago
Err, are there any systems that try to cut over to a new package before it's been built successfully?
- thrownaway122 11y agoI guess that traditional package managers could install a helper script or a config file early in the build system before the main package is finished.
- cwp 11y agoYes. Almost all of them, actually. By "build" I mean the whole package installation process, including moving the compiled files into their final destinations. If you're upgrading an existing package, and that involves overwriting one binary in /usr/bin and another in /usr/lib, a crash in the middle of that process leaves the package partially upgraded, and very likely broken. Nix never overwrites an existing package installation. Instead, it installs the new version in a separate directory, then overwrites a symlink that pointed to the old version with a symlink pointing to the new version.