Re: PROPOSAL - REFORMULATED - Create alternative Packages files for each section
Daniel Ruoso <daniel@ruoso.com> writes:
> Hi,
>
> Based on a previous thread on the same matter, I reformulated the
> proposal I made earlier.
>
> Here it goes:
>
> PROPOSAL:
> Create alternative Packages file for each section
>...
> Then create a Packages file for each section inside
> main/contrib/non-free with the respective packages (the names could be
> Packages.base, Package.gnome). The current big Packages file would not
> be removed, keeping the compability with the current system.
I would suggest using main/base/binary-arch/Package. Users can then
simply add
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian sid main/base
to just get the base section. No changes need to be made to apt,
dselect, aptitude, ... The configure programs (like apt-setup) could
be changed to allow users to select specific sections and handle inter
section dependencies and such.
The advantage of this would be that this could be backported to older
releases and people could use it for sarge (without the comfort of
apt-setup but manually editing sources.list).
> The ftp-master scripts would change to create the appropriate
> alternative files, it doesn't seems to be a big change, since it can be
> done after the generation of the Packages file, I mean, there is no need
> to _change_ anything, just _add_ a new procedure after the generation of
> the Packages file.
Something as simple as "grep-dctrl -F Section base <main/binary-arch/Packages >main/base/binary-arch/Packages"?
Don't forget that the files should have Release files and should be in
the main Release file.
> Apt would have to know about this and ask the user if she/he wants to
> download the entire Packages or choose from a list of sections. This
> could be done while configuring the sources.list. The sources.list file
> would have to accept an extra parameter which would be the name of the
> sections.
>
> <CONTENTS FILE="sources.list">
> deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian sid main (base,gnome,...)
> </CONTENTS>
"main/base main/gnome main/whatever" sounds better. No change in syntax.
> This is backward-compatible too, if the sections parameter (between
> parenthesis) is not present, then it would download the big Packages
> file.
>
> Obs. The choosing of the sections in apt by asking the user can be
> optional, leaving to the user to manually configure the sources.list
> file, which would make the Packages.descriptor file useless. But I think
> this would be a nice feature.
>
> Waiting for your comments,
>
> daniel
Maybe splitting into sections isn't so usefull since there are many
many cross section dependencies.
Instead I would like to see some reduced Packages file (names pulled
out of a hat):
- base: Everything needed for a bare base installation with D-I
This would be very usefull to make a partial mirorr for install
purposes. Every other section would depend on this one too.
- no-X: Everything that doesn't need X
This would be for use on routers and servers where one doesn't want X
- short: Complete Packages file but without long descriptions
This should reduce the file size by a lot without loosing any packages
Other options could be an X, Gnome and KDE file (with X the common
files between gnome and kde). As to how much they would save or be
usefull who knows.
MfG
Goswin
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