Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache?

From	Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.user
Subject	Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache?
Date	2023-12-17 07:10 +0100
Message-ID	<HLSvD-e8m7-1@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
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> Some packages will stay the same for years, but in the past week
> I can see four occasions when changes in list contents have occurred
> on oldstable. So there's little similarity.

The question is not really whether "apt/lists" is similar to
"apt/archives", but whether the content of "apt/lists" is appropriate
for `/var/cache`.

AFAIK nothing bad will happen to your system if you delete
`/var/lib/apt/lists`.  It will still run as before and you can still
install packages as before.  The only thing that seems to be impacted is
that some APT operations will temporarily work in a kind of "degraded"
mode until the next `apt update`.

That seems similar to things like `locate` failing if you remove
`/var/log/plocate/plocate.db` (until that DB is rebuilt).


        Stefan

Thread

Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2023-12-16 17:10 +0100
  Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2023-12-16 18:40 +0100
    Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2023-12-16 19:00 +0100
      Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2023-12-17 06:20 +0100
        Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2023-12-17 07:10 +0100
          Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2023-12-17 19:40 +0100
            Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2023-12-17 21:40 +0100
              Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2023-12-18 01:50 +0100
                Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2023-12-18 05:10 +0100
  Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2023-12-17 03:20 +0100
    Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2023-12-17 06:10 +0100
  Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2023-12-18 15:10 +0100
    Re: Why is /var/lib/apt/lists not in /var/cache? <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2023-12-18 15:40 +0100

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