CentOS - Dec 2007 - 4.6 update overwrote my /usr/lib/python2.3/site.py file

We had some custom additions to our site.py file for a third party
application. 'yum update' to 4.6 overwrote the file with no backup or
warning. Not hard to repair, but it did have me worried there for a
few minutes when the application failed to start.

Is this a python issue, an upstream issue or a CentOS issue? Can
something be done about it going forward?

Jeff

On Fri, 2007-12-21 at 09:53 -0600, Jeff Larsen wrote:
> We had some custom additions to our site.py file for a third party
> application. 'yum update' to 4.6 overwrote the file with no backup
or
> warning. Not hard to repair, but it did have me worried there for a
> few minutes when the application failed to start.
> 
> Is this a python issue, an upstream issue or a CentOS issue? Can
> something be done about it going forward?
[ignacio at centos4 ~]$ rpm -qf /usr/lib/python2.3/site.py
python-(none):2.3.4-14.4.i386
[ignacio at centos4 ~]$ rpm -qpl CentOS/RPMS/python-2.3.4-14.4.i386.rpm |
\
> grep site\\.py
/usr/lib/python2.3/site.py
/usr/lib/python2.3/site.pyc
/usr/lib/python2.3/site.pyo
[ignacio at centos4 ~]$ 

Upstream.

Although an application requiring changes to site.py seems suspect to
me.

-- 
Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams <ivazqueznet at gmail.com>

PLEASE don't CC me; I'm already subscribed
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On Dec 21, 2007 10:29 AM, Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams <ivazqueznet at
gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 2007-12-21 at 09:53 -0600, Jeff Larsen wrote:
> > We had some custom additions to our site.py file for a third party
> > application. 'yum update' to 4.6 overwrote the file with no
backup or
> > warning. Not hard to repair, but it did have me worried there for a
> > few minutes when the application failed to start.
> >
> > Is this a python issue, an upstream issue or a CentOS issue? Can
> > something be done about it going forward?
> Upstream.
>
> Although an application requiring changes to site.py seems suspect to
> me.
Yes, I won't argue about it being suspect. It's not exactly a
mainstream application. But it needs a specific version of zope.

Is there a more appropriate alternative to adding 'sys.path.append()'
in site.py to enable python to find zope? I know nothing of python,
I'm just following vendor instructions (famous last words!).

Jeff

Jeff Larsen wrote:
> We had some custom additions to our site.py file for a third party
> application. 'yum update' to 4.6 overwrote the file with no backup
or
> warning. Not hard to repair, but it did have me worried there for a
> few minutes when the application failed to start.
> 
> Is this a python issue, an upstream issue or a CentOS issue? Can
> something be done about it going forward?
Only files that are designed to be modified (like config files in /etc/
normally) are protected from updates.

The system does not look for other files as being updated and save them.

If that file is one that SHOULD be modified by customers, then filing a
bug upstream can get them to mark it as a config(no-replace) file ...
but I doubt this file is one that they will change.

Thanks,
Johnny Hughes

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> Jeff Larsen wrote:
> > We had some custom additions to our site.py file for a third party
> > application. 'yum update' to 4.6 overwrote the file with no
backup or
> > warning. Not hard to repair, but it did have me worried there for a
> > few minutes when the application failed to start.
> >
> > Is this a python issue, an upstream issue or a CentOS issue? Can
> > something be done about it going forward?
>
> Only files that are designed to be modified (like config files in /etc/
> normally) are protected from updates.
>
> The system does not look for other files as being updated and save them.
>
> If that file is one that SHOULD be modified by customers, then filing a
> bug upstream can get them to mark it as a config(no-replace) file ...
> but I doubt this file is one that they will change.
Being new to python, I didn't know enough to ignore the vendor's
advice. I now have it properly configured with a file
/usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages/zope.pth. I also shot off an email to
the vendor on the right way to do it.

Jeff