On Tue, 6 Dec 2005, Dieter Baron wrote:
>> I see... is the format of this file documented somehow?
>
>  It's simply lines of the format
> 	category/directory:packagename-version
> which is the format used internally by pkg_chk.

First, that does not answer the question about documentation (see "others 
may use the file, too").

What is the "directory" here - the same as the pkg's directory in pkgsrc, 
as in pkgsrc/category/directory? Makes me wonder why that is needed, as 
it's not used in the dependency system (and neither is the category).

I wonder why this can't be generated on demand, e.g. by running "ls -lR" 
or so, see pkg_install, which does not require the burden of maintaining 
such a file.


>> ISTR there used to be a "make index" which created something similar that
>> was (is?) used on FreeBSD for package downloads by their installer.
>>
>> Having only one such file around may make things a lot easier, and given
>> that iMil's working on a very similar feature, working with him on the
>> format of that file would probably be good.
>
>  Indeed, as would be working with Jeremy's index generation.  But
> that takes time, and this patch works *now*.  I would like to have
> that feature in the 2005Q4 branch.  We can always migrate pkg_chk to
> use the common format once it is fixed.
>
>> As well as (of course) documenting its existance and format for future
>> tools, which will likely pop up and use that file.
>
>  It is rather pkg_chk specific.  For future tools, using Jeremy's
> file format is probably better.  Documenting the file's format and
> name in the pkg_chk man page is a good idea, though.

If you already know that there's a better alternative, it may be good to 
go that way...


  - Hubert