apt::ppa fails on Linux Mint about puppetlabs-apt HOT 7 CLOSED

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from puppetlabs-apt.

Thanks for bringing this up. The problem is that Mint is a variant of Debian, not an Ubuntu remix, and as such is reported as Debian back to Facter. The Ubuntu PPA's are geared towards being used with Ubuntu and you can't assume just about any PPA works with non-Ubuntu.

That being said I do agree with you that you should be able to use PPA's on non-Ubuntu versions but if that causes you to break your system you're on your own at that point.

The reason the current implementation fails for non-Ubuntu is because Debian and thus Mint until Wheezy did not have a version of python-software-propreties packaged that also included the /usr/bin/add-apt-repository binary.

This implementation should be changed to allow PPA to be used on Wheezy and above.

@Debilski: Could you give me the values of Facter's lsb* facts that are returned for Mint?

from puppetlabs-apt.

Sure. I’ve currently only access to a Mint 13 LTS and a Mint Debian Edition (which is based on squeeze, because it is an older installation).

# Mint 13 LTS
$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=LinuxMint
DISTRIB_RELEASE=13
DISTRIB_CODENAME=maya
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 13 Maya"
$ cat /etc/debian_version 
wheezy/sid
$ facter
lsbdistcodename => maya
lsbdistdescription => Linux Mint 13 Maya
lsbdistid => LinuxMint
lsbdistrelease => 13
lsbmajdistrelease => 13
operatingsystem => Debian
operatingsystemmajrelease => wheezy/sid
operatingsystemrelease => wheezy/sid
osfamily => Debian

# Mint Debian (squeeze)
$ cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=LinuxMint
DISTRIB_RELEASE=1
DISTRIB_CODENAME=debian
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint Debian Edition"
$ cat /etc/debian_version 
6.0.9
$ facter
lsbdistcodename => debian
lsbdistdescription => Linux Mint Debian Edition
lsbdistid => LinuxMint
lsbdistrelease => 1
lsbmajdistrelease => 1
operatingsystem => Debian
operatingsystemmajrelease => 6
operatingsystemrelease => 6.0.9
osfamily => Debian

However, I always thought that the non-debian edition Mints were clearly based on Ubuntu. And in fact Mint 13 includes the Ubuntu repos and patches its own version of python-software-properties including apt-add-repository:

$ apt-cache policy python-software-properties
python-software-properties:
  Installed: 0.82.7-1linuxmint2
  Candidate: 0.82.7-1linuxmint2
  Version table:
     0.82.7.7 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages
     0.82.7.5 0
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main amd64 Packages
 *** 0.82.7-1linuxmint2 0
        700 http://packages.linuxmint.com/ maya/upstream amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.82.7 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages

The same is not true for older versions of Mint Debian Edition, which does not include add-apt-repository:

$ apt-cache policy python-software-properties 
python-software-properties:
  Installed: 0.60.debian-3
  Candidate: 0.60.debian-3
  Version table:
 *** 0.60.debian-3 0
        500 http://ftp.debian.de/debian/ squeeze/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

So, all in all it may as well be a problem with facter (1.7.5) which causes the problems by assigning the wrong operatingsystem* to the Ubuntu based Mint 13.

from puppetlabs-apt.

Oh, Mint is an Ubuntu remix after all unless it's the Debian Edition, damn. Looks like Facter needs to be taught to recognise non-LMDE's as Ubuntu instead.

from puppetlabs-apt.

@apenney @adrienthebo: What to do?

from puppetlabs-apt.

Perhaps add a custom fact that determines if the add-apt-repository binary is available, and use that instead of checking the operating system?

from puppetlabs-apt.

I was considering rewriting this into a native type which would also fix the issue I think.

from puppetlabs-apt.