Re: "dselect" replacement team
'Jason Gunthorpe wrote:'
>
> 3) Many of the fixes require an indepth understanding of exactly how
> all of the portions work together and interact. A quick way to get
> this in this case is to simply chuck it and redo it.
Although I agree with your criticisms of dpkg/dselect, I think simply
chucking it is a /very/ bad idea. dpkg/dselect embodies some three (?)
years of experience evolving the most advanced package management
software on the planet. Since it is such a pioneering work, it has
rough edges and does need to be redone. But it needs to be redone by
someone(s) who appreciate the evolution of cutting-edge, complex
software and understand software engineering enough to glean the ideas
from the code (poor as it may be at times) and to improve it in a
careful controlled fashion.
For the understatement of the year: package management is NOT simple!
PS. Have you printed doc/database-structure.fig? I suspect
dpkg/dselect is more carefully designed than you have given credit.
There are many elegant ideas in that code. Don't throw them away!
--
Christopher J. Fearnley | Linux/Internet Consulting
cjf@netaxs.com, cjf@onit.net | Design Science Revolutionary
http://www.netaxs.com/~cjf | Explorer in Universe
ftp://ftp.netaxs.com/people/cjf | "Dare to be Naive" -- Bucky Fuller
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