Debian Bug report logs - #612000
libc6: please postinst symlink /usr/local/lib64 -> /usr/local/lib for consistency with /, and /usr ones

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Yaroslav Halchenko <debian@onerussian.com>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: libc6: please postinst symlink /usr/local/lib64 -> /usr/local/lib for consistency with /, and /usr ones

Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2011 10:09:51 -0500

Package: libc6
Version: 2.11.2-9
Severity: minor


Without /usr/local/lib64 symlink to /usr/local/lib  many local installations of
upstream projects (not that I am encouraging such cruel activity) would install
into /usr/local/lib64 on amd64 systems.  Since symlink is not available,
install would create a directory /usr/local/lib64 to place the content;
but default Debian setup of ldconfig does not include any of */lib64
directories, so those libraries would not become readily available.

Having a symlink /usr/local/lib64 -> /usr/local/lib should make our systems
"friendlier" to the users willing sacrificing piece of mind by installing
something 'locally'.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 6.0
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (900, 'testing'), (800, 'unstable'), (300, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages libc6 depends on:
ii  libc-bin                      2.11.2-9   Embedded GNU C Library: Binaries
ii  libgcc1                       1:4.4.5-8  GCC support library

libc6 recommends no packages.

Versions of packages libc6 suggests:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]         1.5.36     Debian configuration management sy
pn  glibc-doc                     <none>     (no description available)
ii  locales                       2.11.2-7   Embedded GNU C Library: National L

-- debconf information:
* glibc/upgrade: true
  glibc/disable-screensaver:
  glibc/restart-failed:
* glibc/restart-services: exim4 cups cron atd

Message #10 received at 612000@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net>

To: Yaroslav Halchenko <debian@onerussian.com>

Cc: 612000@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: libc6: please postinst symlink /usr/local/lib64 -> /usr/local/lib for consistency with /, and /usr ones

Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:09:23 +0100

On 2011-02-04 10:09:51 -0500, Yaroslav Halchenko wrote:
> Without /usr/local/lib64 symlink to /usr/local/lib many local
> installations of upstream projects (not that I am encouraging such
> cruel activity) would install into /usr/local/lib64 on amd64
> systems. Since symlink is not available, install would create a
> directory /usr/local/lib64 to place the content; but default Debian
> setup of ldconfig does not include any of */lib64 directories, so
> those libraries would not become readily available.

I'd say that such projects are buggy as they do not follow Debian's
convention: that's up to the "configure" step to decide what to do,
depending on the target system.

> Having a symlink /usr/local/lib64 -> /usr/local/lib should make our
> systems "friendlier" to the users willing sacrificing piece of mind
> by installing something 'locally'.

There would still be problems if the administrator or the end user
forgets to add symbolic links for other lib directories (e.g.
/opt/lib64 -> /opt/lib, $HOME/lib64 -> $HOME/lib, and so on). If
not all lib paths are consistent, this also means that incorrect
library versions could be selected, as shown here:

  http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-help/2010-11/msg00341.html

Alternatively, Debian could switch to the standard convention
(even though I do not like it, I think this would be a better
solution when one needs to deal with upstream projects that do
not know about Debian).

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <http://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <http://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / Arénaire project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)

Message #15 received at 612000-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Aurelien Jarno <aurelien@aurel32.net>

To: Yaroslav Halchenko <debian@onerussian.com>, 612000-done@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#612000: libc6: please postinst symlink /usr/local/lib64 -> /usr/local/lib for consistency with /, and /usr ones

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:44:16 +0200

On Fri, Feb 04, 2011 at 10:09:51AM -0500, Yaroslav Halchenko wrote:
> Package: libc6
> Version: 2.11.2-9
> Severity: minor
> 
> 
> Without /usr/local/lib64 symlink to /usr/local/lib  many local installations of
> upstream projects (not that I am encouraging such cruel activity) would install
> into /usr/local/lib64 on amd64 systems.  Since symlink is not available,
> install would create a directory /usr/local/lib64 to place the content;
> but default Debian setup of ldconfig does not include any of */lib64
> directories, so those libraries would not become readily available.
> 
> Having a symlink /usr/local/lib64 -> /usr/local/lib should make our systems
> "friendlier" to the users willing sacrificing piece of mind by installing
> something 'locally'.

Now that lib64 symlinks have been removed from / and /usr (they are
causing problems with multiarch), it doesn't make sense to add one in 
/usr/local. I am therefore closing this bug, feel free to reopen it if
you disagree.

-- 
Aurelien Jarno                          GPG: 1024D/F1BCDB73
aurelien@aurel32.net                 http://www.aurel32.net

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