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Re: Debian Metadata Proposal -- draft rev.1.4



Am 01.07.98 schrieb apharris # burrito.onshore.com ...

Moin Adam!

APH> Ok one and all.  This is my proposal for Debian Metadata, which is

Fine, your proposal, but haven#t we talked about an open solution  
developed by several people?

Why have you changed the whole concept without asking the other developers  
:((?

APH> Marco, would you be willing to help me work on the API and thinking
APH> about how to attach a database backend a la dhelp ?

Arhhh. Could we please finish one thing before starting another? At first  
we need a *file format*.

APH>   * work out the install-docs hooks mechanism for backwards compat
APH>     support of dhelp and dwww

We don#t need that for dhelp. As I#ve said several times, dhelp will parse  
the new file format itself.

APH>   * work out the API for a better (no shadowing of data required)
APH>     dwww/dhelp etc working right out of the document store (I need
APH>     lots of help here)

I#m not interested in such an API for dhelp, because I need a special  
structure. And we had discussed this already: dhelp will read the docreg  
files itself.

APH>      This manual contains a guide and a reference to the Debian Metadata
APH>      Project.

A single person project :(?

APH> 3.1.2. The SCHEME Qualifier
APH> ----------------------------
APH>
APH>      The `SCHEME' qualifier indicates what notational scheme the content
APH> is      encoded in. This qualifier is usually not available to the
APH> maintainer      for manipulation, since there is only one reasonable
APH> scheme for an      element in the Debian environment.
APH>
APH>      The default scheme is generally `freetext'. Other elements have a
APH>      scheme of `URL' or `ISO.636'.

Whatfor does we need this?

APH> installed). In      such cases, for the ease of the maintainer, a
APH> relative URL may be      used. The implied basepath in such cases is
APH>      `file://localhost/usr/doc/'.

No. We had discussed that topic several times.

APH>      Currently, the domain of allowable values is
APH>
APH>         * howto
APH>
APH>         * faq
APH>
APH>         * manual *(i.e., manual for software)*
APH>
APH>         * reference
APH>
APH>         * specification
APH>
APH>         * tutorial

[ ... ]

I don#t understand that. We don#t need that, because for this purpose we  
have got the section tag.

APH>              * Subject

Why have you changed the name of this tag?

APH>              * Description
APH>
APH>              * Language
APH>
APH>              * Creator

Ok.

APH>              * Rights

Do we need this tag?

APH>           A URL used to uniquely identify the resource. If the URL is a
APH>           relative URL, it is relative to the location
APH>           `file://localhost/usr/doc/', as described in subsubsection

No, the local URL should relative to the positing of the docreg file. For  
example a user could use dhelp to build a structure of his own documents.

APH>      Title
APH>           LANG
APH>                can set

Not necessary, the title should be in the language of the document.

APH>      docreg files must be placed in the `/usr/share/doc-base/docreg/'

No, no, no. This makes it impossible to use docreg with relative paths.  
I#ve showed you the disadvantages of this solution several times. This is  
a very bad solution.

APH>      subdirectory. By convention, this file should be named the same as
APH> the      package, i.e.,

Sorry, but a lot of package will include more than one docreg file.

APH> is not      enforced; however, these file names must be globally unique
APH> across all      packages.

Right and this is one problem with this solution. What#s your problem with  
my solution: docreg in /usr/doc/<foo>?

APH>      The Document Store, in `/var/state/doc-base/docstore', is a file
APH>      containing the collected information about all documents currently
APH> on      the system. This file is in the same format as the docreg files.

???

1.) This docstore is the database of *your* docbase program. It shouldn#t
    be part of a file format standard. Sorry.
2.) Why should we store one information twice?

APH>      The Document Store file may be processed by the doc-base system into
APH> a      more optimized system as well, such as Berkeley database file. To
APH> be      determined.

This is not part of the file format -> remove it

-------------------------------

I#m missing the tags for adding new sections and their description.

Please tell me, if you#re interested to develop one common file format for  
all programs or not. At the moment I#ve got the impression, that you#re  
developing something for your system.

If you#re interesed in one format you should add the proposals of the  
other developers. If you#re not interested, I#ll create my one file  
format.

We#re talking about a very small file format for several month without any  
results. This is really bad.

cu, Marco

--
Uni: Budde@tu-harburg.de           Fido: 2:240/5202.15
Mailbox: mbudde@hqsys.antar.com    http://www.tu-harburg.de/~semb2204/


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