On Thu, Jan 30, 2025 at 02:22:44PM +0000, Michael wrote:

I installed a debian file (db1'say) using dpkg -i and an executable file
(ex1 say) was created.

Later another debian file (db2) was installed, overwriting the executable ex1.

This shouldn't happen in a correctly built Debian package.

There is actually a mechanism dedicated to the case whether one
package wants to override files from another:

https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ap-pkg-diversions.html

So the way you describe it, there must be something wrong with your
packages "db1" and "db2".

Cheers
--
t

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On Thu, Jan 30, 2025 at 02:22:44PM +0000, Michael wrote:

I installed a debian file (db1'say) using dpkg -i and an executable file
(ex1 say) was created.

Hi Michael,

Can we have some specifics? Version of Debian, name of executables,
whether one came from outside main Debian repository, please.

As an aside - if you install a random package with dpkg -i, I'm not
sure how that might affect the package database if other packages
have been installed using apt, for example.

Much better to use apt - at this stage of development, dpkg really is
*very* low-level and not expected as a normal user-level command.

As Tomas has written, Debian is usually fairly careful to make
packages work well with each other so that they don't conflict and
certainly don't overwrite each others' configuration without serious
warnings.

Later another debian file (db2) was installed, overwriting the executable ex1.

I now wish to overwrite ex1 with the data in db1, so I tried to install db1 again, but nothing seemed to happen.

*Exactly* what do you want to do? Can you explain in more detail what
you want the end result to be? If you want to install one program, use it
to write some data and then want to use another program instead, consider saving off the data to a file and importing that into the second program.

"Nothing seemed to happen" - did you use any of the package management
tools to check which packages appeared to install and which configuration
files were present?

Did nothing happen because db1 had already been installed ?

Without further and better information, nobody can know.
If you've got two programs which appear to conflict, it is quite useful
to uninstall both of them and purge the config files before trying to
install one of them again:.

apt remove [packagename1] ; apt purge [packagename1]

apt remove [packagename2] ; apt purge [packagename2]

Do I need to completely uninstall db1 by using

dpkg --purge db1

before I can install db1 again and overwrite ex1 with data from db1 ?

Yes, possibly, but we need more information.

The FAQ for this mailing list requests that people give us details on packages, commands that they've run and output and results for a reason: unfortunately, we can't sit on your shoulder and observe exactly what's going on and what
you see :)

All the very best, as ever,

Andy
(amacater@debian.org)

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On Thu, Jan 30, 2025 at 04:14:00PM +0000, Michael wrote:

Thanks very much for your help and suggestions.

I am running Debian 12 on a desktop.

My aim is to set up and use a TOTP authenticator app called Ente Auth.

I ran, as root :-

dpkg -i ente-auth-v4.2.8-x86_64.deb

[...]

dpkg -i ente-auth-v4.3.1-x86_64.deb

I don't know who packaged this, but at least they don't seem to
know how to make a Debian package. The names seem to suggest
different versions of the "same" package, but as far as Debian
is concerned, they are just totally different packages.

See here [1] for how Debian packages are supposed to be named.
In short, <package>_<version>_<architecture>.deb, separated
by underscores.

Possibly, ente-auth_v4.2.8_x86_64.deb might be a good package
name (but we don't know what on earth is *in* those things, that
might be as wrong as the name!)

A newer version will replace the older version's files. In your
case, if you try to install the second one...

This should overwrite the previous executable enteauth.

...and it tries to overwrite files installed by the first one,
you *should* have got an error message from dpkg. Did you?

Cheers

[1] https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/pkg-basics.en.html#pkgname
--
t

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On Thu, Jan 30, 2025 at 11:01:02 -0600, David Wright wrote:

On Thu 30 Jan 2025 at 16:14:00 (+0000), Michael wrote:

So I downloaded the new .deb file and installed it (again using root) :-

dpkg -i ente-auth-v4.3.1-x86_64.deb

I would purge the old package (first backing up any of /your/
files involved). I think the package is called enteauth.

Eeek! If the package name isn't "ente-auth-v4.3.1" then they've
seriously messed around with expectations. Granted, we already saw
that with the "x86_64" instead of "amd64" as the arch.

At this point, it would be a really good idea to *confirm* the name of
the package. "dpkg -l ente\*" or similar should suffice.

Once you know the name of the package, then you can decide how to
proceed.

* If the package name really is "enteauth" or "ente-auth" without a
version number inside it, then installing the second .deb package
should have replaced the original.

* If the packge name is "ente-auth-v4.3.1" or similar, with a version
number in it, then you may have *both* versions installed at the
same time, either conflicting with each other, or not. In that case,
the best thing to do at this point would be to purge both, and then
install whichever one you want.

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On Thu, Jan 30, 2025 at 04:42:02PM +0000, Michael wrote:

The deb names may be unconventional but the executables worked (at least v4.2.8 worked).

They are IMHO wrong, since they quite probably will end up as *different packages* instead of as *different versions of a package*.

If you just install one, you won't notice a difference; if you install
one "over" the other (and this is what you are doing!), you will.

Cheers
--
t

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On Thu 30 Jan 2025 at 16:14:00 (+0000), Michael wrote:

I ran, as root :-

dpkg -i ente-auth-v4.2.8-x86_64.deb

Running apt install path-to/ente-auth-v4.2.8-x86_64.deb
will check for dependencies etc. (You must include the path.)
It will also log a record of what was installed or removed
on the system, ie APT records history, whereas dpkg lives
entirely in the present.

So I downloaded the new .deb file and installed it (again using root) :-

dpkg -i ente-auth-v4.3.1-x86_64.deb

I would purge the old package (first backing up any of /your/
files involved). I think the package is called enteauth.

# apt -s purge enteauth

Test it first with the -s (simulate).

Unfortunately I did not think to run any Debian package commands to check
on the status of the v4.2.8 or v4.3.1 files.

It's never too late. Do it now.

$ dpkg -l | less

and search for ente in the first instance. You'll get
plenty of false hits, of course.

My latest thought is to uninstall the v4.2.8 data by running as root :-

dpkg --purge ente-auth-v4.2.8-x86_64.deb

You use the package name here, not the .deb filename.

and then reinstall the v4.2.8 deb file by again running as root :-

dpkg -i ente-auth-v4.2.8-x86_64.deb

to recreate the executable enteauth for v4.2.8

As above, use apt (and again, you can first test it with -s).

Disclaimer: the above is just Debian technicalities.
I don't know anything about what the package does.

Cheers,
David.

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On Thu 30 Jan 2025 at 14:27:28 (-0500), Greg Wooledge wrote:

On Thu, Jan 30, 2025 at 11:01:02 -0600, David Wright wrote:

On Thu 30 Jan 2025 at 16:14:00 (+0000), Michael wrote:

So I downloaded the new .deb file and installed it (again using root) :-

dpkg -i ente-auth-v4.3.1-x86_64.deb

I would purge the old package (first backing up any of /your/
files involved). I think the package is called enteauth.

Eeek! If the package name isn't "ente-auth-v4.3.1" then they've
seriously messed around with expectations. Granted, we already saw
that with the "x86_64" instead of "amd64" as the arch.

At this point, it would be a really good idea to *confirm* the name of
the package. "dpkg -l ente\*" or similar should suffice.

Once you know the name of the package, then you can decide how to
proceed.

Rather than risk installing the download, I merely did:

$ ls -Glg ente-auth-v4.3.2-x86_64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 16583244 Jan 28 04:56 ente-auth-v4.3.2-x86_64.deb
$ md5sum ente-auth-v4.3.2-x86_64.deb
1428236e1468fc9547b2dacb96a2f5cb ente-auth-v4.3.2-x86_64.deb
$ ar x ente-auth-v4.3.2-x86_64.deb control.tar.xz
$ tar -x -f control.tar.xz -J ./control
$ cat control
Maintainer: Ente.io Developers <auth@ente.io>
Package: enteauth
Version: 4.3.2
Section: x11
Priority: optional
Architecture: amd64
Essential: no
Installed-Size: 36000
Description: ente two-factor authenticator
Depends: libsqlite3-0, libsodium23, libsecret-1-0, libappindicator3-1 | libayatana-appindicator3-1, gir1.2-appindicator3-0.1 | gir1.2-ayatanaappindicator3-0.1, libayatana-ido3-0.4-0
$

AFAICT, ente-auth-v4.2.8-x86_64.deb is no longer downloadable.

* If the package name really is "enteauth" or "ente-auth" without a
version number inside it, then installing the second .deb package
should have replaced the original.

I assumed the upgrade process may have worked, just not the resulting
binary. OTOH, downgrading it would have required forcing, so that
didn't happen.

* If the packge name is "ente-auth-v4.3.1" or similar, with a version
number in it, then you may have *both* versions installed at the
same time, either conflicting with each other, or not. In that case,
the best thing to do at this point would be to purge both, and then
install whichever one you want.

Cheers,
David.

[my posts have been taking 2-3 hours today to be sent anywhere.]

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