Re: [gentoo-dev] [rfc] repo_name/layman-global.txt overlay name mismatches

[Robert Buchholz]

On Sunday 12 July 2009, Fabian Groffen wrote:
> since I assume you can't reliably use the checked out version of the
> overlay (by e.g. layman), can you try to retrieve the repo_name file
> from the overlay?  Probably a lot of efforts.  So alternative, what
> if we extend the layman-global.txt (which is xml in reality...) file
> with an extra property per overlay which holds the contents of it's
> repo_name?  Would be optimal, since you're fetching this file anyway
> to check it.  Alternative is to use another file somewhere on the
> interweb that you keep up to date automatically, by having all
> overlays checked out and recording their repo_name ...

I think it should be a requirement that repo_name == layman name for an 
overlay to be added to layman. If that file changes later, we should 
see a warning *somewhere*. It is a perfect opportunity to revisit the 
overlays+metadata cache idea presented by patrick a while ago (and do 
other overdue changes!).

Since writing down stuff into an IDEAS file in my $HOME does not get 
anything implemented, and I'm still looking for a way to have a 
wiki-like lightweight GLEP (which I prefer for collecting ideas), 
here's what I have so far:

Background:
Overlays are useful, fast-moving playground for inclusion of new ebuilds 
and distributed community effort. layman-global.txt is the central list 
of overlays

Issues:

   1. In layman-global.txt:
         1. has no DTD/xml validation schema
         2. overlays have only a contact address, no real name
         3. overlay name in xml file might not be overlay's repo_name
         4. Exactly one overlay URL, no mirrors possible
   2. overlays.g.o website:
         1. Feed is out of date
         2. Only lists dev and proj overlays, not third-party
         3. Has no overlay content index
         4. Has no overlay search
   3. Overlays do not have metadata
   4. Overlays are not natively supported by package manager, but
      through an external app and a 'source' in make.conf

Ideas:

   1. Revamp layman-global.txt, keep it as authority file:
         1. Move file to overlays.xml (but keep a compatibility copy)
         2. Create XML DTD/schema to make it validatable
         3. Change 'official' attribute to differentiate
            between 'dev', 'proj' and '3rdparty/unofficial'
         4. Add value for overlay RSS feed if available
         5. Add real name for owner
         6. Have multiple overlay URIs with checkout priorities
   2. Write script to generate planet config from overlays.xml
   3. Have copies of the overlays on official gentoo.org infra, generate
      metadata for them and export them via rsync (the bonsaikitten
      proposal at
      http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.gentoo.devel/62025/ )
   4. Validate repo_name vs. XML file (needs 3.)
   5. Move search and browse features to overlays.g.o website, see:
         1. http://git.exherbo.org/summer/
         2. http://gpo.zugaina.org/
         3. http://gentoo-overlays.zugaina.org/
   6. Extend layman to use one of many overlay URIs or allow user select


Robert

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