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Re: ia32-libs{-tools}, multiarch, squeeze



On Sun, Jul 05, 2009 at 04:17:15PM +0100, Roger Leigh wrote:
> The fact that schroot was primarily written for developers does not
> make it any less useful for ordinary users.  The current version has
> features such as /etc/schroot/chroot.d which are intended to allow
> other programs or packages to drop chroot definitions in there.
> This was done with the intent that someone could write a simple
> script to create a chroot, drop an automatically generated
> configuration in there, and it will Just Work™.  The existing setup
> will by default set up /home, /tmp etc. as on the host system, so
> for most users, it will appear completely transparent.

Thanks for biting: this is an interesting part of the discussion, with
chances to improve user experiences not only in this particular case,
but also in testing more safely packages coming from other suites or
third party repositories.

> As I see it, there are two major hurdles:
> 
> 1) Initial creation of the chroot.  As above, I think a simple
>    script to integrate with the existing tools would work just fine
>    here.

Sure, perhaps triggered when installing schroot via debconf or, even
better to not bother "developer-type" of users, when installing a
facade package such as "schroot-lenny" or something such.

> 2) An easy way to run programs inside the chroot.  This depends upon
>    exactly what you want to do.  Wrapper scripts or shell aliases do
>    a good job for existing users; automatically generated desktop
>    menu files for specific applications would also work.

ACK.

But I see a third one.

3) How to maintain the chroot. With the chroots that I use (I've 4 of
   them: three for cowbuilding in different suites, and a 32 bit one)
   they always end up being out of date. I developed the habit of
   updating them just before building on top of them. For users we
   really need a way to update them in a semi-automated way that takes
   care of security upgrades (at least). Maybe unattended-upgrades
   with a specific configuration can be the way to go?

Cheers.

-- 
Stefano Zacchiroli -o- PhD in Computer Science \ PostDoc @ Univ. Paris 7
zack@{upsilon.cc,pps.jussieu.fr,debian.org} -<>- http://upsilon.cc/zack/
Dietro un grande uomo c'è ..|  .  |. Et ne m'en veux pas si je te tutoie
sempre uno zaino ...........| ..: |.... Je dis tu à tous ceux que j'aime

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