[Rpm-maint] [PATCH] Add RPMTAG_IDENTITY calculation as tag extension

[Panu Matilainen]

On 04/03/2018 10:31 PM, Vladimir D. Seleznev wrote:
> RPMTAG_IDENTITY is calculating as digest of part of package header that
> does not contain irrelevant to package build tag entries.
> 
> Mathematically RPMTAG_IDENTITY value is a result of function of two
> variable: a package header and an rpm utility, thus this value can
> differ for same package and different version of rpm.
> 

Before proceeding with further work on this, we need to define what is 
it that we're trying to identify. The above definition is very 
ambiguous, and it's impossible to properly review + discuss the patch 
when my idea of package identity might be entirely different from 
somebody elses idea, that'll only cause unnecessary work and frustration.

Starting with, what is a "package"? Are we talking about the source 
package, or binary packages?

If it's binaries, then we're always ultimately talking about a *build*, 
and a line needs to be drawn somewhere. There are any number of ways to 
draw such a line, so it needs to be explicitly stated. One example of 
such line could be something like "package id must match between a 
package built on different instances of the same operating system, 
version and architecture". That clearly is NOT the line that this 
version of the patch tries to draw, but then it's not at all clear to me 
what that line is supposed to be.

	- Panu -