Re: Regularly updating data files

[Tomasz Buchert <tomasz.buchert@inria.fr>]

On 04/04/14 15:33, Ole Streicher wrote:
> Hi,

Hi Ole,

> 
> for an astronomy library package, there is a data library needed to be
> downloaded. This data files are updated ~weekly; however I have the
> feeling that most updates are really minor.
> 
> The question is now how to model this in Debian. I see three ways here:
> 
> * provide a package that contains the data and update this on a regular
> base. Disadvantage is that the package is not updated on stable and
> other releases (Ubuntu), so it will be outdated probably already when
> the release is published
> 
> * provide a shell script that does the download (this is already
> included in the package). Disadvantage is that it requires some action
> by the user and may be forgotten so that he stays with old data.
> 
> * install a cronjob that runs the script every week or so. Disadvantage
> is that this may be considered as privacy breach.
> 
> * create an extra "-data-downloader" package that installs the cronjob
> and states this clearly in its description. Suggest this in the main
> package.

Just for completeness:
I have a prospective package stellarium-stars (moved to debian-astro
git packaging very recently) which uses a fifth way: I provide a package
(like in the first method you mentioned), but it contains a script which
downloads additional star catalogues. The updates are very rare and
the files are very big, so I decided to do it that way.

> 
> What is the best way here?
> 
> Best
> 
> Ole
> 

Cheers,
Tomasz