Hi all, I need to write an aptitude provider for Debian. How should it differ from apt? Can I just s/apt/aptitude/g, or do I need to do something else? Any other weird behaviours I should look for or whatever? I''ll make it a subclass of apt (and since Deb seems to specify aptitude as the default now, maybe apt should subclass aptitude), so any dpkg answerfile work should work on both. -- Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn''t go away. -- Philip K. Dick, "How to Build a Universe" --------------------------------------------------------------------- Luke Kanies | http://reductivelabs.com | http://madstop.com
On Sat, Sep 02, 2006 at 10:05:45PM -0500, Luke Kanies wrote:> I need to write an aptitude provider for Debian. How should it differ > from apt? Can I just s/apt/aptitude/g, or do I need to do something > else? Any other weird behaviours I should look for or whatever?For basic installation, I think the tools are much the same. It has many different behaviours behind the scenes, though -- presumably if you''re using the aptitude provider then you want the aptitude behaviours. - Matt -- I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone. -- Bjarne Stroustrup
Matthew Palmer wrote:> > For basic installation, I think the tools are much the same. It has many > different behaviours behind the scenes, though -- presumably if you''re using > the aptitude provider then you want the aptitude behaviours.Okay, thanks. I''ll do a few quick checks, and then add the support. Should I switch it to being the default for Debian? -- Dawkins''s Law of Adversarial Debate: When two incompatible beliefs are advocated with equal intensity, the truth does not lie half way between them. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Luke Kanies | http://reductivelabs.com | http://madstop.com
On Sun, Sep 03, 2006 at 12:19:47AM -0500, Luke Kanies wrote:> Matthew Palmer wrote: > > > > For basic installation, I think the tools are much the same. It has many > > different behaviours behind the scenes, though -- presumably if you''re using > > the aptitude provider then you want the aptitude behaviours. > > Okay, thanks. I''ll do a few quick checks, and then add the support. > > Should I switch it to being the default for Debian?Only if you want to send me into a never-ending sulk. <grin> For your "average" user, the defaults presented in aptitude work pretty well -- install recommends, track packages that only got installed via dependency so they can be removed again, etc etc. It''s certainly cut down on the amount of bugs reported along the lines of "I installed $package and it doesn''t do $edge_case_feature until I install $recommended_package". Puppet, I would hope, is designed for people with a little more Clue, and hence you should know (or at least be able to work out) that you might have to install a package listed in Recommends if you want to use some particular feature. Pulling in those recommends (and even suggests, now, apparently!) automatically would be quite irritating for me, at least -- unless I can do Package { provider => "apt" } and have my default package provider be apt-get instead of aptitude. - Matt
Matthew Palmer wrote:> > Only if you want to send me into a never-ending sulk. <grin> For your > "average" user, the defaults presented in aptitude work pretty well -- > install recommends, track packages that only got installed via dependency so > they can be removed again, etc etc. It''s certainly cut down on the amount > of bugs reported along the lines of "I installed $package and it doesn''t do > $edge_case_feature until I install $recommended_package". Puppet, I would > hope, is designed for people with a little more Clue, and hence you should > know (or at least be able to work out) that you might have to install a > package listed in Recommends if you want to use some particular feature. > Pulling in those recommends (and even suggests, now, apparently!) > automatically would be quite irritating for me, at least -- unless I can do > > Package { > provider => "apt" > } > > and have my default package provider be apt-get instead of aptitude.You can do exactly that and ''apt'' will be the provider for every package that doesn''t explicitly override it. You''re the Debian expert here (at least compared to me), so I''d appreciate a recommendation on whether this should be the default. Maybe save it until the next version? Shouldn''t I follow whatever the OS itself is recommending, basically? -- Don''t throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water. -- Swedish Proverb --------------------------------------------------------------------- Luke Kanies | http://reductivelabs.com | http://madstop.com
On Sun, Sep 03, 2006 at 01:37:53AM -0500, Luke Kanies wrote:> You''re the Debian expert here (at least compared to me), so I''d > appreciate a recommendation on whether this should be the default. > Maybe save it until the next version? > > Shouldn''t I follow whatever the OS itself is recommending, basically?As long as you consider *why* the OS itself is recommending it. Note that nobody, as far as I know, is actively deprecating apt-get -- it''s just that, for the teeming masses, aptitude works better. I don''t think that Puppet is a "teeming masses" type tool. I''d stick with the current default for at least another minor version (until 0.20) to iron out any problems there might be with the aptitude support, mention it''s existence fairly heavily so people know about it and can use it, and then try to get a feel for whether people are using it in preference to the apt provider to determine which way the default should run.> Don''t throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds > water. > -- Swedish ProverbWow, your sigmonster is sentient. - Matt
Matthew Palmer wrote:> > As long as you consider *why* the OS itself is recommending it. Note that > nobody, as far as I know, is actively deprecating apt-get -- it''s just that, > for the teeming masses, aptitude works better. I don''t think that Puppet is > a "teeming masses" type tool.Ah; I didn''t realize that''s why they were switching.> I''d stick with the current default for at least another minor version (until > 0.20) to iron out any problems there might be with the aptitude support, > mention it''s existence fairly heavily so people know about it and can use > it, and then try to get a feel for whether people are using it in preference > to the apt provider to determine which way the default should run.Ok, will do.>> Don''t throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds >> water. >> -- Swedish Proverb > > Wow, your sigmonster is sentient.Well, what''s the point, otherwise? -- If a dog jumps onto your lap it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing it is because your lap is warmer. -- Alfred North Whitehead --------------------------------------------------------------------- Luke Kanies | http://reductivelabs.com | http://madstop.com