[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Bug#56434: [wishlist] apt should use a 'difference' transfer mode, ala patch(1)



Package: apt
Severity: wishlist

Hello there.

It strikes me, while downloading packages with apt on my frozen computers,
that not a whole lot of code should have changed in each package -- yet the
system downloads the whole silly package again, no matter how trivial the
change between versions.

It seems that a nice addition would be binary patches, similar to patch(1)
(I can't recall the name of a program that I know does this -- I think rsync
might be able to be set to use it..) that would give out the differences
between the previous version, and the newest version. This way, a one-line
change shouldn't lead to downloading the whole thing again.

Of course, if due to the package format, even a one-line change makes the
package files *very* different, then perhaps the suggestion should just be
thrown out. But, if small changes lead to small differences, something like
this might be in order. (Perhaps, only for changes between debian-releases
of a package -- eg, foo-1.33-1 and foo-1.33-2 would give diffs, but
foo-1.33-2 and foo-1.34-1 wouldn't give diffs.)

It just seems wasteful to retransmit all that data, over and over and over
again.

Of course, the whole thing is contingent on the previous version being on
the client, so it might not have enough effect to bother with. But, I think
the idea should at least be raised.

Thanks :)


-- 
Seth Arnold | http://www.willamette.edu/~sarnold/
Hate spam? See http://maps.vix.com/rbl/ for help
Hi! I'm a .signature virus! Copy me into
your ~/.signature to help me spread!


Reply to: