[leaf-devel] Subject: Using .deb packages for custom Bering distro
Note: I am NOT wanting to start another which package system is best discussion, I'm just looking for comments, observations you all may have... Having used lrp (original), oxygen, Dachstein, bering, and uClib bering, I'm very familiar with the .lrp package structure. Currently we have many of these deployed in various roles (routers, vpn endpoints, traffic-shaping bridges, squid web cache, etc.) We need a better way to update packages than lrp currently provides. I need some way to have change management on thee boxes, as well as a way to update a package in place, without downtime. Yes, its possible to do with lrp, but I'd like some way to be able to have the leaf box pull an updated package from a central repository (via ssh or https), and then have an upgrade script run. The lrp way to do this is to add a /var/lib/lrpkg/pkgname.upgrade script, and then teach lrpkg to run the upgrade script. But at that point, I question whether or not its just better to make the switch and use busybox's dpkg applet - and use the .deb package format. debian already has the pre-install, install, deinstall (forget the name) and post-deinstall scripts. -- I know this is a severe departure from the leaf community, especially with respect to the uClib-bering team's goal of continuing to support a single diskette distro... So I'm not looking for support/design/coding help. (although it would be welcome :) ) What I am interested in is what you see as the pros/cons of such a plan. What I see are: Pro: debian's already figured out a good packaging system. leverage that. Pro: bering's already mostly debian, so it should be easier to strip a deb-source package and build a bering package for that than it would be to build one from scratch. Con: lrp is just a tarball - you can't get simpler than that Con: We'll need more RAM/disk space for metadata about which packages are installed. Con: Time/effort required to actually make the switch. Am I missing something really obvious? Thanks! --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: GNOME Foundation Hackers Unite! GUADEC: The world's #1 Open Source Desktop Event. GNOME Users and Developers European Conference, 28-30th June in Norway http://2004/guadec.org ___ leaf-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-devel
Re: [leaf-devel] Subject: Using .deb packages for custom Bering distro
--- Charles Steinkuehler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The big thing to consider is the fact that .deb packages were not made to re-build the full OS at each reboot, ie: they presume persistent storage. If you're running your systems off a HDD, that might not be a problem for you, at which point I'd suggest you take a look at any of the micro debian-based distributions that are avaialble. It would probably be a lot easier to start with something designed to work with .deb files than to coerce LEAF into that role. Thanks for your comments, Charles. Yes, that is a good point. The micro-debian distros are still a little heavy. Its a good feeling to strip a perimeter router down to 1 diskette, but scale to a cd+hdd for a web cache. I'll also throw out a few pointers, in case you decide you want to stay in the leaf domain: - You should not currently use lrpkg -i to install an upgraded package, Thanks. Actually I'm using a rewritten apkg (originally from Oxygen). - If you're using partial backups to save your configuration, you can fairly easily manually upgrade a package by: Extract the .lrp file into /root of the current filesystem Re-extract the configuration .lrp to restore the over-written config files - If you wanted to be a bit cleaner, you could do a 'psudo' partial backup (just stash the partial backup in /tmp or something) prior to installing the updated package. See the backup scripts (and the local file) for how to pull just the config data out of a package. - Obviously, you could create a script that automates the above processes...most of the code even exists already, spread throughout the backup scripts, linuxrc, and maybe a few other places... Nice ideas. Thanks for taking the time to respond. --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: GNOME Foundation Hackers Unite! GUADEC: The world's #1 Open Source Desktop Event. GNOME Users and Developers European Conference, 28-30th June in Norway http://2004/guadec.org ___ leaf-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-devel
Re: [leaf-devel] Subject: Using .deb packages for custom Bering distro
On Tue, 2004-06-08 at 09:51, Nathan Angelacos wrote: Thanks. Actually I'm using a rewritten apkg (originally from Oxygen). Nathan, Would you mind making your diff of apkg available? -- Mike Noyes mhnoyes at users.sourceforge.net http://sourceforge.net/users/mhnoyes/ SF.net Projects: ffl, leaf, phpwebsite, phpwebsite-comm, sitedocs --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: GNOME Foundation Hackers Unite! GUADEC: The world's #1 Open Source Desktop Event. GNOME Users and Developers European Conference, 28-30th June in Norway http://2004/guadec.org ___ leaf-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-devel
