SmartPackageManager

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== Design ==  == Design ==
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To make the transition easier we will create a plugin for smart that will dynamically update smarts channel list based on the /etc/apt/sources.list.

The gpg key handling needs to be improve in smart to match the current behaviour in apt. We should also do a automatic initial import of the apt-keys into smarts key list (or just share the same keyring). See http://lists.labix.org/pipermail/smart-labix.org/2006-June/001055.html for details.

The current Gtk UI needs HIG love and improve it in general. We may consider to model it after the synaptic glade file to make the transition for the users easier.

The package needs to be split into a smart package and a smart-gtk package to make it feasible for server installs.
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There are various issues that need to be adressed: There are many issues that need to be adressed to make smart a alternative package manager in ubuntu. It is unlikely that those can be adressed in the edgy timeframe. Among those:
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 * 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?)
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 * the package needs to be split into smart{-gtk,-whatever frontend}
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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.

To make the transition easier we will create a plugin for smart that will dynamically update smarts channel list based on the /etc/apt/sources.list.

The gpg key handling needs to be improve in smart to match the current behaviour in apt. We should also do a automatic initial import of the apt-keys into smarts key list (or just share the same keyring). See http://lists.labix.org/pipermail/smart-labix.org/2006-June/001055.html for details.

The current Gtk UI needs HIG love and improve it in general. We may consider to model it after the synaptic glade file to make the transition for the users easier.

The package needs to be split into a smart package and a smart-gtk package to make it feasible for server installs.

Outstanding issues

There are many issues that need to be adressed to make smart a alternative package manager in ubuntu. It is unlikely that those can be adressed in the edgy timeframe. Among those:

  • 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

  • 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)