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Date:      Fri, 12 May 2000 18:23:15 -0400
From:      "Patrick Bihan-Faou" <patrick@mindstep.com>
To:        <freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   New packaging tool (was Re: Applying patches with out a compiler)
Message-ID:  <107101bfbc60$aabeb350$040aa8c0@local.mindstep.com>
References:  <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1000512123717.44824A-100000@fledge.watson.org> <E12qJVg-0005ow-00@xi.css.qmw.ac.uk>

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Hi,

I am currently working on a new version of pkg_*, which will bring a few
features that I feel are missing. In no special order these are:
- better dependency checking
- versioning of packages (not just the name of the tar file)
- upgrades procedures from one version to the next
- definition of "sets" of files
- signature of files + verification using any of the supported hashes (MD4,
MD5, SHA, RIPEMD)
- support for "special" files and file permissions (devices, flags, etc.)
- support for MTREE-like storage of directory hierarchies
- installing from remote locations (i.e. on NFS mounted disks) while setting
the "installed package" database properly for the remote machine.
- support for file sets within the package (this can be used for supporting
multiple architectures (alpha, i386) with one package)

So far I have implemented the creation of the package tar file and support
files with most of these feature. I also added enough smarts to update an
existing package to the new format, so my changes are backward compatible.

One thing that I want to include, but I can't find a way to preserver "tar
compatibility" is self-signature of the package itself. I am debating
whether this is important enough that tar compatibility can be dropped or
not...

I am also integrating this with the world build process so I can install
many machines from a package.

I am doing this for another project so this is my work these days, and you
can expect something withing 2-3 weeks.

If there is enough interest in the FreeBSD community, I would like to
contribute it to the project. Otherwise, I will probably only make it
available as a port. However considering the potential benefits for the
community at large, I think it would be nice to have this as the "standard"
packaging tool.


I appreciate any comments/criticism on my work, so please don't by shy !!!


Patrick.




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