Hi,

And all this would be a bug in libxml-sax-perl because of what exactly?

We don't have a policy about Debian and CPAN to coexist.  This certainly
doesn't mean they should not, but it's not a requirement at this point in
time.  Please bring this issue up at the debian-perl mailing list.

I've written a README.Debian for this module which I suggest you read.  It
probably should be expanded to explain the background of why I wrote the
'update-perl-sax-parsers' script and the issues it solves.  I'm working with
the upstream authors on a more widely usable solution for these issues (or at
least more support for it work smoothly in Debian).

The basic problem is that XML:SAX parsers are expected to register themselves
at installation time using the XML::SAX API resulting in a ParserDetails.ini
file originally in the same location where XML::SAX lives.  Debian doesn't
allow package A to directly change a file owned by package B.  Since the file
ParserDetails.ini is owned by XML::SAX, no other parser can register itself.
The 'update-perl-sax-parsers' script is a solution around this problem and every
parser (including the one in XML::SAX) is expected to call this script in the
postinst and prerm scripts.  I enhanced the XML::SAX API by a subroutine called
'save_parsers_debian' and stubbed the original subroutine 'save_parsers'.

The Makefile.PL of local XML::SAX parsers has be to changed to comment out the
part where it registers itself using the original XML::SAX API.  After install
you then have to call the 'update-perl-sax-parsers' script manually to register
the parser.  I plan to put support in the 'update-perl-sax-parsers' script for
local ParserDetails.ini files (e.g. for users to have parsers under their home
directory).

So, unfortunately this is hopefully one of the rare occasions where Debian and
CPAN cannot coexist out of the box.

I'm not sure what to do exactly with this bug report.  We don't have to support
/usr/local and you're responsible yourself for what you're doing there.  If you
install software under /usr/local which also is already available under /usr and
made to work within the Debian framework, you're probably in for more situations
like this.

Thanks,
Ardo

Peter Sinnott (<email address hidden>) wrote:
> Package: libxml-sax-perl
> Version: 0.03-1
> Severity: important
> 
> I installed the cpan version of XML::SAX after installing the
> debian packaged version. When the package was updated it failed to install
> because the cpan version at /usr/local/share/perl/5.6.1/XML/SAX.pm
> was found in the @INC before /usr/share/perl5/XML/SAX.pm.
> libxml-libxml-perl was also being updated at the time.
> 
> Setting up libxml-sax-perl (0.03-1) ...
> update-perl-sax-parsers: adding Perl SAX parser module info file of XML::SAX::PurePerl...
> Can't locate object method "save_parsers_debian" via package "XML::SAX" (perhaps you forgot to load "XML::SAX"?) at /usr/bin/update-perl-sax-parsers
> line 96.
> dpkg: error processing libxml-sax-perl (--configure):
>  subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 255
>  dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libxml-libxml-perl:
>   libxml-libxml-perl depends on libxml-sax-perl; however:
>     Package libxml-sax-perl is not configured yet.
>     dpkg: error processing libxml-libxml-perl (--configure):
>      dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
> 
> 
> Tweeking the PERL5LIB to find the packaged version first allowed it to
> install.
> Should debian and cpan versions be able to coexist?
> 
> 
> -- System Information
> Debian Release: 3.0
> Architecture: i386
> Kernel: Linux migo.mcom.com 2.2.14 #2 SMP Tue Feb 29 11:52:17 GMT 2000 i686
> Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C
> 
> Versions of packages libxml-sax-perl depends on:
> ii  perl                          5.6.1-6    Larry Wall's Practical Extraction 
> 
> 

-- 
Ardo van Rangelrooij
home email: <email address hidden>
home page:  http://people.debian.org/~ardo
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