rpm does not create a directory when all files inside it are not installed cuz %lang

[Jeff Johnson]

tracker

[Art (art-redhat-bugs)]

With the --excludedocs install option RPM-4.0 creates empty
%{name}-%{version} dirs under %{_defaultdocdir}:

rpm -i --excludedocs -vv sysvinit-2.78-1art.i686.rpm:

> D: file: /usr/share/doc/sysvinit-2.78 action: create
> D: file: /usr/share/doc/sysvinit-2.78/HISTORY action: skipnstate
> D: file: /usr/share/doc/sysvinit-2.78/Install action: skipnstate
> D: file: /usr/share/man/en/man1/last.1.bz2 action: skipnstate

There should be a 'skipnstate' instead of 'create' in the first line.

[Jeff (jeff-redhat-bugs)]

You're correct, this will be fixed in rpm-4.1.

[Jeff (jeff-redhat-bugs)]

This issue depends on whether a directory can/should have the attribute %doc.
The current
implementation of file attributes in rpm forbids directories to have either %doc
or %config
attributes because directories may contain files other than documentation (and
so should not
be excluded with --excludedocs). Identifying whether a directory has contents
other than
documentation is non-local and expensive (read: it's not just a single bit
test).

I've marked the code, but I don't believe that the implementation is justified
at this time.

[Jeff (jeff-redhat-bugs)]

Fixed in rpm CVS, should be in rpm-4.0.3-0.4 and later.

[Jeff Johnson (n3npq)]

RPM has never had a concept of %doc or %config applied to directories.
The attributes can only be meaningfully applied to a file, there are too many
issues enforcing rules like
    All files in a %doc directory must also be %doc

And with %config its even trickier because its not possible to
devise a semantic equivalent to a digest applied a file that
is needed to determine what action rpm performs when upgrading.

The original problem is likely related to an "orphan directory" i.e. a
directory that MUST be created because its in the path, but that
is not packaged. So when the policy for including %lang marked files
does not match an file in the orphan directory, the directory is not
lazily created when needed.

[devzero2000 (pinto-elia)]

Sounds like something discussed a long time ago. Really is it still useful resubmit it?