From owner-freebsd-hackers Wed Mar 8 16:40:26 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mission.mvnc.edu (mission.mvnc.edu [149.143.2.3]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D3B4137B74A for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 16:40:20 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from kdrobnac@mission.mvnc.edu) Received: from localhost (kdrobnac@localhost) by mission.mvnc.edu (8.9.0/8.9.0) with SMTP id TAA06512 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 19:40:17 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 19:40:17 -0500 (EST) From: Kenny Drobnack To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: New packaging system (was: Sysinstall 'A'uto partitioning) In-Reply-To: <200003082219.RAA05930@server.baldwin.cx> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > > I was actually planning a near-complete rewrite of sysinstall anyway! How > > about everyone throwing in whatever suggestions you would like ( about > > anything regarding sysinstall ), and I will try to incorporate them!? > > It has already been re-written, complete with the new packaging system. It > just has some rough edges that need to be fixed, and the code needs to be > documented. The package is called libh, and you will find links to it if > you search the archives. I have a suggestion. I have a laptop with Debian Linux on it, and I love the way it does the packaging system. For those not familiar with it, I will try to briefly explain how it works. You run it, set what version of Debian Linux you have (stable or unstable, I think there's a 3rd option too, which I can't remember). Then set what kind of media you're installing from (CD-ROM, nfs, hard drive, ftp, etc). It looks for a file called PACKAGES.GZ and from that builds a list of all the packages available from whatever source it was pointed at. Whenever you select a package too get, it automagically selects all the required dependencies. And then it doesn't download the packages until you tell it to. On top of all this, dselect has an update feature that puts Windows Update to shame (not hard actually :-) If you point dselect at a archive that has more recent versions of some programs, it will tell you which programs have newer versions available, and give you a chance to download it, if that be your heart's desire. I figure some of these features could be a great addition to the ports collection, as well as the pkg_* tools. Another idea, I've noticed a trend in some programs of having a GUI interface, as well as a command-line mode. To me, this sounds like it would be great to have with a package management tool. ----- In computer terms, hardware is the stuff you can hit with a baseball bat, and software is the stuff you can only swear at. -from a web page explaining what hardware, software, and firmware are ---- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message