On Feb 23, 2008, at 7:07 AM, devzero2000 wrote:

> "It's equally possible to query an rpmdb, which is as centrally  
> located
> as local syslog files usually are, with the added benefit that all,  
> not just NVRA and
> a time stamp, information regarding the installation state of  
> packages is available.
> "
> Ok, I am of the same opinion, naturally
>
> But, Does this phrase alludes to instruments like RHN or zenworks or  
> other ? . If you could kindly supply a more explicit example for  
> doing an centrally located rpmdb, it would be of great aid.
>

RHN and Zenworks certainly have access to the local rpmdb database  
which contains
all the information (the N-V-R.A identifier and a message time stamp)  
that the proposed
syslog patch provides.

Again, logging provides a historical record which an rpmdb alone does  
not
provide. Enabling --repackage is necessary to maintain a historical  
record
of all package install/erase operations. Yes, --repackage saves much  
more
than the package N-V-R.A and installtime.

We perhaps have different meanings for "centrally located". If you  
want logging
to a shared remote facility, using syslog as a transport, or with  
postings of
additionally added packages to a remote web-site, as RHN/Zenworks need,
then more would need to be done to use an rpmdb to save the same  
information.

(aside) If remote logging is the goal, then syslog(3) is perhaps not  
the best transport
for logging. UDP can/will lose messages, and the time stamp of the  
message, rather
than the install/erase operation, can be misleading.

Posting a message to RHN or Zenworks server from an rpmlib client
could be attempted if there was interest. In practice, RHN and  
Zenworks have
chosen alternative, application specific, logging.

73 de Jeff