On Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 12:09:36PM +0100, Eric Curtin wrote: > Would a contribution be entertained that enabled some packages to > start installing while the packages are still being downloaded? It > bugs me when I am waiting for a large package to download (say firefox > or a bigger package), whilst in the meantime all the other packages > could have been unpackages/installed/whatever. Theoretically possible of course, in practice you will run in a lovely stream of problems which make it questionable if the added complexity is justified. For example: You need to get packages in a proper order, we kinda do it already, but you need to be sure and block until everything you need to unpack & configure this subset is downloaded otherwise bad things happen (and that subset might very well involve hundreds of packages, so you really have to design for it). It also means that the download methods must be in a workable state regardless of the rest of the system. A simple method which e.g calls another program like ssh is no longer guarenteed to work for example as openssh isn't an essential package. And even more complex methods like https or tor+http depend on external libraries and services which might or might not be in an operational state. Or simpler: Your entire network connection might be brought down while the packages responsible for it are upgraded. If that wouldn't be enough already you have all sorts of user interface problems as you have to intermix progress reporting with package configuration asking questions, apt hooks like apt-listchanges become useless [for people who use it as a confirmation step] and and and… I don't want to discourage you from trying, but you are by far not the first person to have this "simple" idea. Attempting this needs a good plan, dedication to detail and a good grasp on what the two subsystems you are trying to merge actually do – spoiler: They are pretty complex. I would suggest picking much smaller projects first to get a feeling. Rome wasn't built in a day. Best regards David Kalnischkies
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