Debian bug report logs - #972, boring messages

Message sent to debian-devel@pixar.com:

Subject: Bug#972: Packages file corrupt
Reply-To: Jon Rabone <93jkr@eng.cam.ac.uk>, debian-bugs@pixar.com
Resent-To: debian-devel@pixar.com
Resent-From: Jon Rabone <93jkr@eng.cam.ac.uk>
Resent-Sender: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk
Resent-Date: Sat, 10 Jun 1995 19:33:07 GMT
Resent-Message-ID: <debian-bugs-handler.972.061019220728704@pixar.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 1995 20:20:52 +0100 (BST)
From: Jon Rabone <93jkr@eng.cam.ac.uk>
To: debian-bugs@pixar.com
Message-Id: <Pine.3.89.9506102042.A1354-0100000@club.eng.cam.ac.uk>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Package: ftp distribution

The files

/packages/linux/debian/Packages
/packages/linux/debian/binary/Packages

on src.doc.ic.ac.uk both appear to be corrupt, although in different ways...
I copied the file to /var/lib/dpkg/available and ran dselect, which then
fell over complaining about the file.

Jon.

/-----------J. K. Rabone-----------\ "There's a picture, I like to look at
| http://club.eng.cam.ac.uk/~93jkr |  A picture of a beautiful face.
|    Email: 93jkr@eng.cam.ac.uk    |  And I see something, in her eyes
\--------Phone 01223 331553--------/  Sends me to a better place..."

Message sent:

From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
To: Jon Rabone <93jkr@eng.cam.ac.uk>
Subject: Bug#972: Acknowledgement (was: Packages file corrupt)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9506102042.A1354-0100000@club.eng.cam.ac.uk>
References: <Pine.3.89.9506102042.A1354-0100000@club.eng.cam.ac.uk>

Thank you for the problem report you have sent regarding Debian GNU/Linux.
This is an automatically generated reply, to let you know your message has
been received.  It is being forwarded to the developers' mailing list for
their attention; they will reply in due course.

If you wish to submit further information on your problem, please send
it to debian-bugs@pixar.com, but please ensure that the Subject
line of your message starts with "Bug#972" or "Re: Bug#972" so that
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Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message,
unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system.

Ian Jackson
(maintainer, debian-bugs)

Message sent to debian-devel@pixar.com:

Subject: Bug#972: Packages file corrupt
Reply-To: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson), debian-bugs@pixar.com
Resent-To: debian-devel@pixar.com
Resent-From: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
Resent-Sender: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk
Resent-Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 14:03:07 GMT
Resent-Message-ID: <debian-bugs-handler.972.061313542219964@pixar.com>
Message-Id: <m0sLJTj-0000XRZ@chiark.al.cl.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 95 01:05 BST
From: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
To: debian-bugs@pixar.com

Ian Murdock writes ("Re: Bug#972: Packages file corrupt"):
> The mangled Packages file is caused by the extended description
> of "git", I think.  It contains a few `^' characters, which are
> the field delimiters for pdpkg, if I rememberly right.  This is
> most likely the problem.
>
> Bill, could you change the `^' characters to `CONTROL' or `CTRL'?

How about using ^A (ie, \001, the ASCII SOH character), or ^\ (\034,
28d, Perl's string array index separator character available using
`$;') ?

These are not legal in package control files (which are ASCII text
files), whereas text strings such as `^', `CTRL' and `CONTROL' are.

If the approach of using a control character as the metacharacter is
taken, pdpkg should of course check that the input doesn't contain the
`forbidden' characters before attempting to process it.

The Packages file is an important database - it is vital to the use of
dselect.  Perhaps the processing script around pdpkg could attempt a
syntax check on the Packages file before attempting to parse it ?

If this is thought to be a good idea I shall provide such a syntax
check program in the dpkg build tree - it's a trivial call to the C
dpkg database manipulation routines.

Also, could the processing script please be sure to update all the
links to the Packages file ?  Atomic mv should clearly be used to
overwrite the old version, so that downloaders never get a partial
copy, but this will of course mean doing the `installation' separately
for each link.  Alternatively the copy of the file currently in
/pub/debian could be made a link to the copy in binary.

Ian.

Message sent:

From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
To: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
Subject: Bug#972: Info received (was Bug#972: Packages file corrupt)
In-Reply-To: <m0sLJTj-0000XRZ@chiark.al.cl.cam.ac.uk>
References: <m0sLJTj-0000XRZ@chiark.al.cl.cam.ac.uk>

Thank you for the additional information you have supplied regarding
this problem report.  It has been forwarded to the developers to
accompany the original report.

If you wish to continue to submit further information on your problem,
please do the same thing again: send it to debian-bugs@pixar.com, ensuring
that the Subject line starts with "Bug#972" or "Re: Bug#972" so that
we can identify it as relating to the same problem.

Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message,
unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system.

Ian Jackson
(maintainer, debian-bugs)

Ian Jackson / iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk, with the debian-bugs tracking mechanism

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