On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 11:30 AM, Enda O'Connor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > So sometimes an update might be meaningless, ie > I can have an x86 FCS system ( from cat /etc/release ) > but it has grub,zfs and all the latest zones functionality, just by > adding 137137-09, plus the near 30 patches requires to get that on board. > > To me they probably need a patch automation tool to tell them what is > currently available in terms of patching, and they see what they need > from that.
Interface changes always have an associated ARC case ID with them, right? Why not make it so that the software that delivers an interface delivers some metadata that says that the interface specified in the ARC case is on the system. Any time a patch or installation delivers, removes, or deprecates a feature (interface) this metadata would get updated. A stable interface is then needed to query and update that metadata. The "important" (worthy of marketing or release notes attention) could get a corresponding feature-based meta package, allowing administrators to easily install the feature. http://mgerdts.blogspot.com/2008/03/solaris-wish-list-feature-based-meta.html A nice extension on that would be a means to for software to register as a consumer of the interface. Perhaps that is just a soft dependency in the packaging software. Another thought would be to add dtrace probes at the entry points to the interfaces so that a interface watch daemon could track interface users (e.g. by using process contract decorations). -- Mike Gerdts http://mgerdts.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ zones-discuss mailing list zones-discuss@opensolaris.org
