Bug#747889: ben: creating a ben.cache from a directory of Packages and Sources files

[Johannes Schauer <j.schauer@email.de>]

Package: ben
Version: 0.6.11
Severity: wishlist

Hi,

in bug#747879 I asked to support "ben query" on Packages and Sources
files without needing a ben.cache file. On the other hand, ben.cache
files are super because if I want to do multiple queries, then ben.cache
loads much faster than multiple Packages and Sources files.

I currently create a ben.cache file by creating a directory structure
containing

	dists/unstable/main/binary-amd64/Packages
	dists/unstable/main/binary-armel/Packages
	[...]
	dists/unstable/main/source/Sources

all of them being symlinks to my actual Packages and Sources files. This
works well because curl supports the file:// protocol.

But this has the downside that not only do I have to create this
directory and symlink structure but also that curl creates a copy of all
those files in the cache-dir which I then have to remove after ben.cache
is created.

It would be nice if it was possible to create a ben.cache file from a
number of Packages and Sources files without needing a special directory
structure or more than one copy of a file.

cheers, josch