akonadi-sqlite no longer adequate?

[awry]

Now that kde-4.8.2 has hit the kubuntu-backports ppa, I have a problem.

Prior to 4.8.2, akonadi-server was happy to install with akonadi-backend-sqlite.

With the 4.8.2 packages, however, akonadi-backend-mysql appears to have been added as a hard dependency.

I really, strenuously object to running a dedicated mysql instance for my Desktop to operate properly.

Does anybody know why this dependency changed? Is this an upstream issue, or a packaging issue?

[awry]

I might add, despite strenuously objecting to having to run a dedicated mysql instance for my desktop, that I cannot even install akonadi-backend-mysql, because I require percona server for other applications.

akonadi-backend-mysql depends on mysql-server-core-5.1, which attempts to write /usr/sbin/mysqld. But mysqld already exists and is owned by the percona-server-server-5.1 package, so akonadi-backend-mysql is a nonstarter for me.

Ultimately there needs to be some coordination, methinks, between Percona and debian/ubuntu on packaging.

But in the meantime, it would be nice to have a usable desktop.

[Zorael]

From the Akonadi changelogs (admittedly precise and not oneiric);

akonadi (1.7.0-0ubuntu3) precise; urgency=low

* make akonadi-server require the mysql backend. It's the only one really
supported upstream and as the default backend has to be installed.
(LP: #923189 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/akonadi/+bug/923189))

-- Philip Muškovac <yofel@kubuntu.org> Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:49:42 +0200
Small sidenote; it seems the kcm (configuration window) is bugged so you can't choose between any backend other than mysql or postgresql. I filed this as bko #298314 (https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=298314).

I'm far from an authority on this but yes, I believe this is a packaging bug. Just as you say; in the current scheme akonadi-server cannot be installed if mysql-server-core-5.1 and mysql-client-core-5.1 cannot in turn be installed -- and kdepim-runtime and other core KDE packages depend on akonadi-server.

As a test I modified (http://pastie.org/3805783) (the packaging of) akonadi-server to instead depend on a fictive 'akonadi-backend' virtual package, and then modified the backends in turn to provide (http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-relationships.html#s-virtual) that package. I built it locally and from what I can see, it works well.

With some extraoneous lines removed;

$ dpkg -l akonadi*
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-==========================-==========================-================================================== ==================
un akonadi-backend-mysql <none> (no description available)
un akonadi-backend-odbc <none> (no description available)
un akonadi-backend-postgresql <none> (no description available)
ii akonadi-backend-sqlite 1.7.2-0ubuntu1.1~zor03 SQLite storage backend for Akonadi
ii akonadi-dbg 1.7.2-0ubuntu1.1~zor03 debugging symbols for the Akonadi PIM storage service
ii akonadi-server 1.7.2-0ubuntu1.1~zor03 Akonadi PIM storage service


$ dpkg -l mysql-*-core-5.1
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-==========================-==========================-================================================== ==================
un mysql-client-core-5.1 <none> (no description available)
un mysql-server-core-5.1 <none> (no description available)
Only the sqlite backend is installed, mysql stays at home, and akonadi-server itself is happy. Naturally you can't set akonadi to actually *use* the sqlite backend via its configuration window (because of the aforementioned bug), but you can manually edit ~/.config/akonadi/akonadiserverrc as a workaround. At the very top;

[%General]
# available drivers are: QSQLITE, QMYSQL3, QMYSQL, QSQLITE3
Driver=QSQLITE3

I mentioned this in #kubuntu-devel (irc://irc.freenode.net/kubuntu-devel), but most people seemed busy. yofel there suggested to file a Launchpad bug, so I'll do that tomorrow.

[awry]

Zorael: thanks for confirming the bug and offering a solution. I'll give this approach a try when I get home. I knew there had to be some workaround, but hadn't thought to create a new virtual package for akonadi-backend.

There's been a (poorly named) bug (https://bugs.launchpad.net/percona-server/+bug/521788) filed against percona-server. I just added kubuntu-ppa to the list of affected projects.

Cheers!

[Zorael]

Apologies; I've been a mite busy. Finally got around to filing the bug.

palindrome LP #988889 [akonadi-server]: "[packaging] hard dependency on mysql backend, breaks other programs" (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/akonadi/+bug/988889)