Re: [Help-stow] Readline clashes with stow. How should I resolve them?

[Adam Spiers]

On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 08:21:04PM -0400, James Jong wrote:
> I tried to stow readline-6.2 and got the following WARNING:
> 
> ==============================
> > stow readline-6.2
> Loading defaults from /home/josh/.stowrc
> WARNING! stowing readline-6.2 would cause conflicts:
>   * existing target is stowed to a different package: share/info/dir =>
> ../../../stow_storage/stow_2.2.0_canonical_paths/share/info/dir
> All operations aborted.
> ==============================
> 
> Here is is what that existing target contains:
> ==============================
> > cat ~/local/share/info/dir
> This is the file .../info/dir, which contains the
> topmost node of the Info hierarchy, called (dir)Top.
> The first time you invoke Info you start off looking at this node.
> 
> File: dir,      Node: Top       This is the top of the INFO tree
> 
>   This (the Directory node) gives a menu of major topics.
>   Typing "q" exits, "?" lists all Info commands, "d" returns here,
>   "h" gives a primer for first-timers,
>   "mEmacs<Return>" visits the Emacs manual, etc.
> 
>   In Emacs, you can click mouse button 2 on a menu item or cross reference
>   to select it.
> 
> * Menu:
> 
> System administration
> * Stow: (stow).                 GNU Stow.
> ==============================
> 
> How can I resolve this?

I see that this has already been answered here:

  http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/73426/dealing-with-gnu-stow-conflicts

The respondent is correct that you can simply delete the 'dir' file
from within the Stow package prior to stowing.  Alternatively you can
skip the install-info target of the package's Makefile if the package
allows it.  The Info 'dir' file is (by design) conceptually owned by
all packages which contribute to its contents, and Stow does not yet
support hooks which could allow automated manipulation of its contents
in this fashion.  However this issue also affects me, so I have added
it to the TODO, and there is a reasonable chance I will implement it
at some point (although pull requests are highly encouraged if you
want it sooner).

Finally, if you are going to duplicate-post the same question in
multiple locations (e.g. on one of the Stow lists and on
StackExchange), then please explicitly cross-link from each
post/thread to the other.  Otherwise you risk wasting someone's time
when they reply to a question which has already been answered
elsewhere.

Regards,
Adam