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== User Experience ==
== User Experience ==
<!-- If this change proposal is noticeable by users, how will their experiences change as a result?
* In normal operation, users should see little or no change
 
* Behavior in error situations is much more robust: forcibly killed transaction no longer causes database inconsistency or corruption
This section partially overlaps with the Benefit to Fedora section above. This section should be primarily about the User Experience, written in a way that does not assume deep technical knowledge. More detailed technical description should be left for the Benefit to Fedora section.
 
Describe what Users will see or notice, for example:
  - Packages are compressed more efficiently, making downloads and upgrades faster by 10%.
  - Kerberos tickets can be renewed automatically. Users will now have to authenticate less and become more productive. Credential management improvements mean a user can start their work day with a single sign on and not have to pause for reauthentication during their entire day.
- Libreoffice is one of the most commonly installed applications on Fedora and it is now available by default to help users "hit the ground running".
- Green has been scientifically proven to be the most relaxing color. The move to a default background color of green with green text will result in Fedora users being the most relaxed users of any operating system.
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== Dependencies ==
== Dependencies ==

Revision as of 08:29, 9 March 2020

Sqlite RpmDB

Summary

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

Owner

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)
  • 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)

User Experience

  • In normal operation, users should see little or no change
  • Behavior in error situations is much more robust: forcibly killed transaction no longer causes database inconsistency or corruption

Dependencies

  • RPM will grow a new dependency on sqlite-libs
  • Technically the rpmdb format is an internal implementation detail of RPM only accessible through the librpm API, but some software is making assumptions both about the format and/or in particular, file naming. These are being tracked at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1766120
  • Upgrade tooling could/should perform rpmdb rebuild at end, this would be a good thing to do regardless of this 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)

Release Notes

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