Subject: Re: PROPOSAL: NetBSD System Packages (LONG)
To: Jonathan Stone <jonathan@DSG.Stanford.EDU>
From: Hubert Feyrer <feyrer@rfhs8012.fh-regensburg.de>
List: tech-pkg
Date: 09/30/1998 15:18:48
On Tue, 29 Sep 1998, Jonathan Stone wrote:
>      i) Nail down the format of the pkg-set file,
>         esp. whether it includes size info;

See my previous mail about that.


>      ii) implement support for that
>         a) build tools for port-master/snapshot-builder types  like
>            Perry to build the new-format pkg-sets.
> 
> 	   This probably means adding support for arch- and toolchain-
> 	   specific files to  the tools that acutally build pkgs.,

Please leave that functionality out of pkg_create, and add it into some
frontend to it, then hand the merged list to pkg_create. 


>         b) decide how to carve up the existing sets into  pkgs.
> 	   For now, you can just about do  whatever seems right to you,
> 	   and we can thrash out the fine points later.
> 
> 	    then carving up distrib/sets/lists/* into pkg lists.

Shouldn't be too hard to merge these files into valid PLIST format, even
with caring for MD/AD/MI/whatever, and then hand this list off to
pkg_create. 



>         c) rework the set-untar subroutines in sysinst to look for,
> 	   and deal with, pkg-sets. itd be nice if we could handle both
>            the old sets and pkg-sets for awhile, but not necessary.

*think* shouldn't be too hard to see if there's a +CONTENTS file at the
very start of an archive... (yes, the +CONTENTS file is always the very
first - various pkg_* tools rely on this!).


> 	   A  0th-pass could just parse the contents of a set-pkg
> 	   and install all the component pkgs, with stubs to select
> 	   pkg-by-pkg later.	   

Heh, you're welcome to do this. :)


> Then let Perry and me and whoever build snapshots, let people
> experiment with them, and add the frills that're necessary --
> `tailored' (pkg-by-pkg) installs, or (to push Simon's idea further) a
> GUI-slider-like tool to adjust sizes of BSD-label partitions during
> install (perhaps checked against the unpacked size from the sets/) or
> kre's no-overwrite flags; prefixes to never ever install under;
> automagic NFS-mountpoint exclusion.  Whatever.

Fine with me, I'd just like to ask you for one thing:
check back with the pkgsrc crew before touching anything in
src/usr.sbin/pkg_* because we have some modifications there going on,
which we would prefer not to interfer with your chances. Thanks!


> Oh yes, and I think it's very important to let a naive user do a
> typical first-time install without even being aware of exactly what
> frills we have, let alone choosing amongst them.

*nod*


 - Hubert

-- 
Hubert Feyrer <hubert.feyrer@rz.uni-regensburg.de>