Re: Just some thoughts

Aschwin Marsman wrote:

[...]
> > > What I would like to have is aap recipes for a lot of applications that
> > > let my say:
> > > aap --install <package> --version=stable|latest|..
> > --delivery=binary|source|..
> > > 
> > > This would download all necessary software (include e.g. all
> > > patches for vim if I specify latest), if needed build it and
> > > install it.
[...]

> > I think this is a very good plan.  What I have done with packages so far
> > is only the first step.  With a few more features, such as selecting the
> > stable/latest version, it quickly becomes very useful.
> > 
> > If someone would like to work on this, I will certainly give my support.
> 
> First we will have to agree to have a standard interface (read options)
> that will be used. It can become very complex if you want to be able
> to support all configurations. Maybe we should limit ourself, at least
> for now, to a simple but extensible interface.

[...]

I think we should indeed keep it simple.  For the version we mostly can
use "stable" and "latest".  What this exactly means is up to the
maintainer of the package.  For Vim I would use Vim 6.2 with patches
that are known not to cause trouble for the stable release.  But for
MS-Windows only the version 6.2 without patches is available.

Main thing is that the user should not need to worry about this.  Let
the maintainer take care of these decisions.

> How to differ between delivery method? binary/source, but from where?
> ftp, cvs, BK, svn, ... Or is this up to the package maintainer?

"The fastest method that works reliably".  Perhaps with a chance for the
user to express what he wants.  I generally follow the rule that using a
binary is much faster and often more reliable, but might have
dependencies that you don't want.  Where to obtain it is to be decided
by the package maintainer, perhaps the user can state a preference.  But
this quickly conflicts with what is possible, thus let's leave this out
for now.

> Let's try to quickly take some decisions before it gets to complicated.

For selecting the desired version:

	aap --install pkgname VERSION=stable
	aap --install pkgname VERSION=latest

Where "stable" is the default.  It's possible that both versions are the
same or that some packages offer more different versions.

For selecting the method:

	aap --install pkgname METHOD=bin
	aap --install pkgname METHOD=src
	aap --install pkgname "METHOD=bin src"

The last one is the default: use binary package when possible, source
otherwise.  I'm not sure about the name "METHOD".  Is there something
better?

Is that simple enough?

I think the real work is to figure out dependencies and make it work on
many different systems.  Before bothering the user with more choices.

-- 
hundred-and-one symptoms of being an internet addict:
53. To find out what time it is, you send yourself an e-mail and check the
    "Date:" field.

 /// Bram Moolenaar -- [email protected] -- http://www.Moolenaar.net   \\\
///          Creator of Vim - Vi IMproved -- http://www.Vim.org          \\\
\\\              Project leader for A-A-P -- http://www.A-A-P.org        ///
 \\\  Help AIDS victims, buy here: http://ICCF-Holland.org/click1.html  ///


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