Re: package configuration design
>>>>> "fog" == fog <fog@irfmn.mnegri.it> writes:
fog> 1) let's separate the user interaction from the package
fog> configuration.
fog> This can be done by adding a new control file (let's call it
fog> "questions") that asks the user about configuration
fog> parameters and stores them in the "registry" (eh eh ;). Then
fog> the usual scripts can retrieve the informations by the use of
fog> your proposed command line tool (dpkg-vars).
fog> 2) let's have a a way to have the user answer all the
fog> questions and
fog> then go get a cup of coffe while dpkg installs. This can be
fog> done by dinstal putting all the "questions" control files in
fog> a single distribution-wide file (just like the Packages.gz,
fog> let's call it Questions.gz). dpkg (or, better, apt) can
fog> extract the questions corresponding to the selected packages
fog> and run them one after the other all before the install
fog> really begins. That way the user can configure the system and
fog> then go away.
I like this idea also. Could the "questions" format be something
like the Linux kernel config files, and reuse the `menuconfig' and
`xconfig' programs? That would be a good thing, I think, because
then any improvements made to the configuration form tool would be
useable for both the kernel and dselect/apt.
Hmmm. I suppose though that `apt' can have its very own interface to
it.
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