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Re: Idea: Replace the Directory Import Project with a web-based search engine



Debian team: Please read the below information to understand the background of this email. Is the Debian Packages Search (https://packages.debian.org/index) (with "Section: main") searching though Sources (extracted from ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/Debian11.6/main/source/Sources.gz) ? Or are the package entries in Sources split into dedicated entries designed for the search engine?



On 01/04/2023 11:53, David Hedlund wrote:


On 01/04/2023 11:32, David Hedlund wrote:

Wouldn't it be ideal if we coded a Mediawiki/SMW-compatible search engine for the Debian metadata repository files that is operating like apt-cache show ?

This should be the quickest way to update the Directory on a daily basis, and we don't even need the Directory Import Project anymore if it works. We just need to download the Debian metadata repository files like GNU/Linux distros.


Example with apt-cache show:

$ sudo apt-cache show yapet
Package: yapet
Architecture: amd64
Version: 2.3-1build2
Priority: optional
Section: universe/utils
Origin: Ubuntu
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com>
Original-Maintainer: Salvatore Bonaccorso <carnil@debian.org>
Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug
Installed-Size: 1424
Depends: libargon2-1 (>= 0~20171227), libc6 (>= 2.14), libgcc-s1 (>= 3.0), libncursesw6 (>= 6), libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0), libstdc++6 (>= 5.2), libtinfo6 (>= 6)
Filename: pool/main/y/yapet/yapet_2.3-1build2_amd64.deb
Homepage: https://yapet.guengel.ch/
Size: 296564
SHA256: a0c697ee25d540e53f8e8285419a6da3896857be96330531a2769502f420ce58
SHA1: dd1e8153ecd802afbd3e1daf0be7a36b875a385b
MD5sum: 2c97bd2b178de3171be3bc4b35659196
Description: Yet Another Password Encryption Tool
 Yapet is a curses based password encryption tool using the Blowfish
 encryption algorithm to store password records encrypted on disk. Its
 primary aim is to provide a safe way to store passwords in a file on
 disk while having a small footprint.
Description-md5: 1667392a25684f36cc6c3594758eeb8a


Example output with a Mediawiki/SMW-compatible search engine:

* Check for new updates of ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/Debian11.6/main/source/Sources.gz on daily basis. Download it if it's new, and extract it. Sources.gz only contains a file called Sources.

* With the hypothesized search engine Retrive info from Sources about the package yapet

* Format the output like https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/YAPET


Perhaps it's even possible to combine apt-cache show with a search engine. For example, if someone is visiting https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/YAPET

* With PHP, use https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.shell-exec.php to execute apt-cache show (in this case apt-cache show yapet) but nothing else -- I know that MediaWiki is preventing you from doing this, but perhaps it won't take more development effort than the Directory Import Project scripts?

* Format the output from apt-cache show yapet, so it's looking like the current https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/YAPET


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