Bug#1011343: WISHLIST: Offical ALL-IN-ONE images?

["Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net>]

Hi,

Steve McIntyre wrote:
> youre initial guess is correct. We don't generate the .iso files
> at all for the larger images [1]. This means we also don't have
> torrent files for them [2].

I began to ponder about a shortcut in libisofs which would trust the
checksum file (-checksum-list , -md5-list) enough to omit the reading of
all the package files' content.
Size, ownership, permissions, et.al would still be taken from the package
files on disk. No ISO image would emerge (because of no valid file content)
but .jigdo and .template would be created.
Probably libjte would need an API extension so that it knows that only
the count parameter of a libjte_show_data_chunk() call is valid.
Vice versa libisofs would have to ask libjte whether a particular file
is covered by the checksum list.

All tricky and probably not worth the risk of embarassing failure.


So back to my idea of merging ISOs:

> The debian-cd code in tools/make_disc_trees.pl is not documentation
> **as such**, but it's exactly how we create disc trees:

I am using it now for checking detail questions.


> It's baiscally just making a self-contained apt repository on each medium.

So
  https://wiki.debian.org/DebianRepository/Format
looks like the specs to follow.

Question (to everybody):

The description of Packages[.gz] files talks of "paragraphs" but does not
exactly define a paragraph's end delimiter. From Packages.gz in the ISO
i'd guess it is an empty line or the "Package" field of the next paragraph.

Is an empty line needed between paragraphs ?
Would more than one empty line between paragraphs damage the readability ?

Reason: I want to merge the Packages.gz files like

  (gunzip <from_DLBD_1/Packages.gz ; gunzip <from_DLBD_2/Packages.gz ) \
  | gzip >temp_file

but am not sure that the found Packages.gz will always end by an empty
line.  So i could simply insert an echo between the gunzips, or simply
trust that the empty line is not needed as separator, or begin to think ...


Have a nice day :)

Thomas