Changes/Sqlite Rpmdb

Sqlite RpmDB

Summary

Change format of the RPM database from Berkeley DB to a new Sqlite format.

Owner

• Name: Panu Matilainen Florian Festi
• Email: pmatilai@redhat.com ffesti@redhat.com

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora 33
• Last updated: 2020-03-09
• FESCo issue: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

The current rpm database implementation is based on Berkeley DB 5.x, a version which is unmaintained upstream for several years now. Berkeley DB 6.x is license incompatible so moving to that is not an option. In addition, the existing rpmdb implementation is notoriously unreliable as it's not transactional and has no other means to detect inconsistencies either.

Changing to a more sustainable database implementation is long overdue. We propose to change the default rpmdb format to the new sqlite based implementation. Support for current BDB format will be retained in Fedora 33, and phased out to read-only support in Fedora 34.

Benefit to Fedora

• A far more robust rpm database implementation
• Getting rid of Berkeley DB dependency in one of the core components

Scope

• Proposal owners:

• Other developers: N/A (not a System Wide Change)

• Release engineering: #Releng issue number (a check of an impact with Release Engineering is needed)

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not a System Wide Change)

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Upgrade/compatibility impact

Upgrading

• Ability to upgrade is not affected
• After upgrade completes, manual action (rpmdb --rebuilddb) will probably be needed to convert to sqlite. Alternatively user can change configuration to stay on BDB.

Compatibility

• Container/chroot use-cases will be affected: older rpm versions will be unable to query/manipulate the rpmdb from outside the chroot
• Koji/COPR may need to override the database format (back to) BDB for the time being

How To Test

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Dependencies

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism:

Revert the default database back to Berkeley DB backend in the package. Running 'rpmdb --rebuilddb' on hosts is currently required to actually convert the database, but means to automate conversion in specific conditions is being discussed upstream.

• Contingency deadline: Beta freeze
• Blocks release? Yes

Documentation

N/A (not a System Wide Change)