Bug#207400: An RPM port of APT
Hi Matt!
> I don't need every change in small chunks, but it would help a great
> deal if you could assist me in separating the RPM support from the
> other enhancements (such as lua scripting, SWIG, etc.). I've pulled
> down the complete diff, but there are a large number of unrelated
> changes and it this makes it difficult to follow.
It'll be a pleasure to help you in that task. Can you please explain
better what code you're classifying as "RPM support" inside the apt-pkg
directory? Code inside this directory should be completely unrelated to
RPM itself. This code is in apt-pkg/rpm/
> Speaking of SWIG, did you realize that there already existed a python API
> called python-apt, available in the same CVS repository as apt? It supports
> a more natural interface. There is also a Perl interface maintained by
> Brendan O'Dea.
Yes. I've looked at this before trying with SWIG. It was quite limited
at the time I've looked, perhaps this has changed?
Anyway, it's safe to drop this support now. This support needed a patch
I've written to SWIG, and unfortunately this patch didn't get in (the
author said C++ support is already messy, and he doesn't plan to improve
it in the current incarnation of the parser).
> I'd like to start with the rpm pkgsystem, along with whatever supporting
> code changes it needs in order to not require any #ifdefs in order to work.
> Then we can tackle the rest.
I think you should go in the oposide direction. Port every interesting
feature from the main trunk, and the rpm support will already be there.
As far as I know, there's nothing in the current trunk of apt-rpm which
couldn't be used as an improvement in the upstream apt.
> Colin Walters and Isaac Jones have implemented repository authentication
> (http://monk.debian.net/apt-secure/), which it seems you have as well. I'd
> like to merge a unified system for this.
This would be nice. Are you able to explain how different it is from our
system, and what features you miss? I'd like to be part of the merging
process, as we have a good deal of real world experience on this
specific area.
Thank you!
--
Gustavo Niemeyer
http://niemeyer.net
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