SmartPackageManager

Differences between revisions 1 and 16 (spanning 15 versions)
⇤ ← Revision 1 as of 2005-10-31 22:52:04 →
Size: 729
Editor: 187_220_103_66-WIFI_HOTSPOTS
Comment: Initial creation
← Revision 16 as of 2006-06-22 14:00:47 → ⇥
Size: 3785
Editor: ALagny-109-1-2-101
Comment:
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 3: Line 3:
 * '''Launchpad Entry''': https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/foo  * '''Launchpad Entry''': https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/smartpm
Line 5: Line 5:
 * '''Contributors''': MichaelVogt
 * '''Packages affected''': 		 * '''Contributors''': MichaelVogt, ColinWatson, JeffWaugh
 * '''Packages affected''': smartpm, apt
Line 10: Line 10:
There is a new package managment system availabe written by GustavoNiemeyer called "smart". It is able to deal with debs, rpm, slackware tgz (at the same time). We should consider using it in ubuntu and figure what features (if any) are missing. There is a new package management system available written by GustavoNiemeyer called "smart". It is able to deal with debs, RPM, slackware tgz (at the same time). We should consider using it in Ubuntu and figure out what features (if any) are missing.
Line 14: Line 14:
Smart has a very clean architecture and is used by many other distributions already. It has the potential to become the de-facto standard as a package manager.
Line 15: Line 17:

 1. Bob upgrades his distribution and is confused because apt makes bad decisions on the upgrade. When he tries smart it is doing better.
 1. Fred wants to hack on a package-managment application. He is frustrated by the libapt interface.
Line 18: Line 23:
We need to evaluate how to make a migration from apt to smart possible and painless and what features/changes are required to make smart the first-class package manager for Ubuntu.
Line 20: Line 27:
== Implementation == For edgy we will make it easier for people to use smart and encourage its usage. We will also start to add features to it that are currently missing but that are important for ubuntu.
Line 22: Line 29:
=== Code ===

=== Data preservation and migration ===		 We will create a launchpad "smart testing" team that encourages the usage and testing of smart in ubuntu.
Line 28: Line 33:
== BoF agenda and discussion == There are various issues that need to be adressed:

 * make the transition from apt easier by reading apt's `sources.list` file and dynamically track the content there (http://svn.smartpm.python-hosting.com/trunk/smart/plugins/aptchannelsync.py). We may even consider making it a two way process (merging changes back from smart into apts sources.list).
 * improve the gpg key handling in smart and auto-import the apt-keys (http://lists.labix.org/pipermail/smart-labix.org/2006-June/001055.html)
 * give the Gtk UI HIG love and improve it in general (model after the synaptic glade file?)
 * Qt frontend (to make Riddell happy :) - this requires it to be possible to access the konsole terminal widget from pyqt which is not possible right now.
 * the tools like apt-listchanges/apt-listbugs/debconf need to continue working

 * port the tools (gdebi, update-manager, gnome-app-install, update-notifier, unattended-upgrades) to smart. This could be done by providing a compatibility layer for python-apt.
 * change the software-properties channel editor to edit channels in a nicer way
 * switch /etc/cron.daily/apt to smart (and provide the same features)
 * the installer makes heavy use of apt-get/aptitude, this needs to be done
 * progress information on installing/fetching via a fd needs to be supported for the installer
 * the package needs to be split into smart{-gtk,-whatever frontend}
 * dist-upgrade where the python version changes may become a issue, we need to check this (should be easier given PythonRoadmap)
 * do checking of the time/space consumption in a clean chroot for upgrade/complex installs
 * memory is a big issue on the desktop and alternate install CDs
 * tracking and auto-removal of unused dependencies (just like aptitude)
 * use that in gnome-app-install to be able to automatically remove the dependencies that were installed for a given application
 * use the "automatically-installed" info in the problemResolver (consider non-automatic packages more important during conflict resolution)
 * support for "deb-src" type URIs (still required with the NoMoreSourcePackages spec)?

 * support for translated package descriptions (similar to the Debian DDTP format?)


----

Summary

There is a new package management system available written by GustavoNiemeyer called "smart". It is able to deal with debs, RPM, slackware tgz (at the same time). We should consider using it in Ubuntu and figure out what features (if any) are missing.

Rationale

Smart has a very clean architecture and is used by many other distributions already. It has the potential to become the de-facto standard as a package manager.

Use cases

  1. Bob upgrades his distribution and is confused because apt makes bad decisions on the upgrade. When he tries smart it is doing better.
  2. Fred wants to hack on a package-managment application. He is frustrated by the libapt interface.

Scope

We need to evaluate how to make a migration from apt to smart possible and painless and what features/changes are required to make smart the first-class package manager for Ubuntu.

Design

For edgy we will make it easier for people to use smart and encourage its usage. We will also start to add features to it that are currently missing but that are important for ubuntu.

We will create a launchpad "smart testing" team that encourages the usage and testing of smart in ubuntu.

Outstanding issues

There are various issues that need to be adressed:

  • make the transition from apt easier by reading apt's sources.list file and dynamically track the content there (http://svn.smartpm.python-hosting.com/trunk/smart/plugins/aptchannelsync.py). We may even consider making it a two way process (merging changes back from smart into apts sources.list).

  • improve the gpg key handling in smart and auto-import the apt-keys (http://lists.labix.org/pipermail/smart-labix.org/2006-June/001055.html)

  • give the Gtk UI HIG love and improve it in general (model after the synaptic glade file?)

  • Qt frontend (to make Riddell happy Smile :) - this requires it to be possible to access the konsole terminal widget from pyqt which is not possible right now.

  • the tools like apt-listchanges/apt-listbugs/debconf need to continue working
  • port the tools (gdebi, update-manager, gnome-app-install, update-notifier, unattended-upgrades) to smart. This could be done by providing a compatibility layer for python-apt.
  • change the software-properties channel editor to edit channels in a nicer way
  • switch /etc/cron.daily/apt to smart (and provide the same features)
  • the installer makes heavy use of apt-get/aptitude, this needs to be done
  • progress information on installing/fetching via a fd needs to be supported for the installer
  • the package needs to be split into smart{-gtk,-whatever frontend}

  • dist-upgrade where the python version changes may become a issue, we need to check this (should be easier given PythonRoadmap)

  • do checking of the time/space consumption in a clean chroot for upgrade/complex installs
  • memory is a big issue on the desktop and alternate install CDs
  • tracking and auto-removal of unused dependencies (just like aptitude)
  • use that in gnome-app-install to be able to automatically remove the dependencies that were installed for a given application
  • use the "automatically-installed" info in the problemResolver (consider non-automatic packages more important during conflict resolution)

  • support for "deb-src" type URIs (still required with the NoMoreSourcePackages spec)?

  • support for translated package descriptions (similar to the Debian DDTP format?)

SmartPackageManager (last edited 2008-08-06 16:29:27 by localhost)