Received: (at bugs) by bugs.debian.org; 3 Jan 1997 13:18:03 +0000
Received: (qmail 21515 invoked from network); 3 Jan 1997 13:15:36 -0000
Received: from roquefort.zdv.Uni-Mainz.DE (134.93.8.119)
  by master.debian.org with SMTP; 3 Jan 1997 13:14:53 -0000
Received: (from schoepf@localhost)
          by roquefort.zdv.Uni-Mainz.DE (8.8.4/8.8.4)
	  id OAA21678; Fri, 3 Jan 1997 14:13:16 +0100 (MET)
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 14:13:16 +0100 (MET)
Message-Id: <199701031313.OAA21678@roquefort.zdv.Uni-Mainz.DE>
From: Rainer Schoepf <schoepf@uni-mainz.de>
To: bugs@bugs.debian.org
CC: schoepf@uni-mainz.de
Subject: Installation of perl tries to write to /usr/local/lib
Organization: Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz


Package: perl
Version: 5.003.07-2

Trying to install this package fails if /usr/local/lib is not
writable. In our installation /usr/local resides on a central file
server and is mounted read-only. I think that it is a bug for a
package to try to modify anything under /usr/local.

The post-installation script for perl tries to avoid the problem with
the following line:

	test -w /usr/local/lib -a ! -e /usr/local/lib/site_perl && mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/site_perl/i386-linux

However, this does not work. "test -w" is not a reliable test on
network file systems. For example, with NFS "root" on the client is
considered anonymous by the NFS server.


I append the output of the dpkg command:


# dpkg --install /data/ftp/Linux/debian/stable/binary-i386/devel/perl_5.003.07-2.deb 
(Reading database ... 14751 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace perl 5.003.07-2 (using .../devel/perl_5.003.07-2.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement perl ...
dpkg - warning, overriding problem because --force enabled:
 trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/perl5/i386-linux/5.00307/CORE/libperl.a', which is also in package perl-suid
Setting up perl (5.003.07-2) ...
mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/local/lib/site_perl': Read-only file system
dpkg: error processing perl (--install):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 perl

-- 
   Rainer Schöpf
   Zentrum für Datenverarbeitung           A point of view can be a dangerous
    der Universität Mainz                  luxury when substituted for insight
   Anselm-Franz-von-Bentzel-Weg 12         and understanding.
   D-55099 Mainz
   Germany                                  Herbert Marshall McLuhan:
   <Schoepf@Uni-Mainz.DE>                          The Gutenberg Galaxy