[BlueOnyx:02044] Re: Perl conflicts in upgrade attempt

[Michael Stauber]

Hi Chuck,

> That is a fairly stock BX system.  And I was simply attempting to perform a
> "yum upgrade".  Perl is the only package that will not upgrade.
>
> But this system does have the Nuonce MailScanner/Spamassassin/MailWatch
> installed on it.  

That's the problem <sigh>.

The NuOnce MailScanner was designed for BlueQuartz - not BlueOnyx. It should 
not have been installed on BlueOnyx, as those PKGs contains Perl related RPMs 
compiled for the Perl on BlueQuartz. And those RPMs were forced aboard during 
the PKG installation, which now causes this grief.

> I had no idea that it so brutally installed packages when
> it was installed - its worked OK from day one.  But now, the Perl upgrade
> problem. 

Yeah. Typically the PKGs contain some info in them that defines which 
"product" (Qube3, RaQ550, BlueQuartz, BlueOnyx) they're compatible with. 

Usually you shouldn't be able to install a PKG on a system that it wasn't 
designed for. Unfortunately some vendors put wildcards into the product field, 
which now make it possible to install incompatible PKGs on BlueOnyx. The 
wildcards in NuOnce PKGs unfortunately cover both BlueQuartz and BlueOnyx.

Hence we will have to do something with the PKG install mechanism to prevent 
people (for their own good) from installing old NuOnce BlueQuartz PKGs on 
BlueOnyx. :o/

> Do you think that Perl not upgrading will cause any future problems?

Hard to say. Does Yum simply bug out and not install any patches, or does it 
just complain about the Perl related RPMs, but does everything else OK?

-- 
With best regards

Michael Stauber