From owner-freebsd-binup Tue Oct 16 11:14:20 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-binup@freebsd.org Received: by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix, from userid 885) id 908E737B408; Tue, 16 Oct 2001 11:14:18 -0700 (PDT) Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 11:14:18 -0700 From: Eric Melville To: Josef Karthauser Cc: Murray Stokely , binup@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: design issues Message-ID: <20011016111418.G4211@FreeBSD.org> References: <20011014170515.B39749@FreeBSD.org> <20011014180507.D2654@windriver.com> <20011015020834.Y31066@tao.org.uk> <20011014181709.E2654@windriver.com> <20011016103434.D4211@FreeBSD.org> <20011016190047.H83396@tao.org.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <20011016190047.H83396@tao.org.uk>; from joe@tao.org.uk on Tue, Oct 16, 2001 at 07:00:47PM +0100 Sender: owner-freebsd-binup@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > There are various core parts of the package system: > > * component installation database. what's installed, where and what > versions. > > This is currently in /var/db/pkg. It should be possible to use other > backends. It should be possible to drop a 'plug in' module in place to > store this information in whatever way the admin wants. Why not a > central SQL server containing info on all the servers/workstations in > the cluster, for instance. > > * indexing, package availability and build functionality. > > At the moment /usr/ports/INDEX is the only way to know what can be > installed. this should be abstracted. it should be possible to write, > for instance, a CPAN module that connects to a CPAN mirror and abstracts > a complete list of what modules are available and have the pkg_install > tools automatically know about these too. If we get this right it would > be possible to add whole chunks of new ports automatically by writing an > interface module to the relevant system. Of the top of my head, ruby, > perl, latex would benefit from these straight away. > > We already have a perl module in the tree that does the right thing (tm) > when you install a perl module by hand. It creates a /var/db/pkg entry > and allows the user to pkg_delete it afterward. This could be more > tightly integrated. > > It's silly not to be able to directly take advantage of other project's > module repositories. > > * package install, management tools. > > All of the pkg_* and sysinstall. These are intrinsically separate from > the actual install processes. They should be properly abstracted to > make that clear. > > * /usr/ports/XXXX > > The /usr/ports/ system is just one mechanism for installing packages. > The BSDPAN module is another (perldoc BSDPAN). Excellent, it sounds like you've covered all of my concerns, the biggest of which was the usage of INDEX directly. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-binup" in the body of the message