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Andi Payn wrote:
> From the package description:
>
>>The Zero Install System is a URI-based network filesystem, together
>>with a mechanism for running applications (including any necessary
>>libraries) directly off the internet. Instead of installing an
>>application, a zero-inst user can just start the application by its
>>URI. Any needed binaries are downloaded and cached locally, so there's
>>essentially no speed hit. For frequently-used applications, a user can
>>add a menu entry, web link, bash alias, etc. that points to the URI.
>>
>>Note that zero-inst is still a work in progress. Since it requires a
>>kernel patch, and the whole point is to run binaries directly from the
>>internet, it's probably a bad idea to use zero-inst on a production
>>system at this stage.
>
>
> See http://zero-install.souceforge.net for more details.

I get a 404 on this site.

I have serious issues with this idea, unless it is coupled with the DRM
kind of stuff Linus mentioned a while back, such as signed binaries and
the kernel module requiring validation of all binaries before use.

>
> The zero-inst developers are all Rox users, so the documentation is a bit
> focused on Rox users, but it works just fine with any KDE, GNOME, or no
> desktop at all. However, at present, there are only a few demo programs
> available for zero-inst (all in
/uri/http/zero-install.sourceforge.net/demo,
> and all built only for ix86), so it's not terribly useful yet.
>
> The source package builds two binary packages: zero-inst and
> zero-inst-kernelmod. You need to have the kernel source for the kernel
you
> want to run against to build the package, and you need to be using the
> matching kernel version to install the -kernelmod package. I couldn't
think
> of a good way to check this. I put in a "BuildRequires: kernel-source"
but
> that doesn't really cover it.

It should, mostly.

> (What if you're using kernel-multimedia?

kernel-multimedia-source should provide kernel-source. Danny? In 9.1 it
provides alsa-source and kernel-multimedia-source.

(BTW, I require kernel-source for the win4lin kernel packages I am
working on, so if we're going to consider win4lin-multimedia kernel
images you need to provide kernel-source so other users don't need to
- --nodeps on build ...)

> Or if
> you've upgraded to a new kernel but still have the old kernel-source?)

No problem if you have the modules themselves, doesn't matter which
source is installed (actually, it's probably best to upgrade
kernel-source and build all kernel-dependant packages before rebooting
into the new kernel.

> And
> there doesn't seem to be any way to make the binary package require the
> kernel version used for building (another feature for automated
requirements
> gathering?).
>

You have to do this yourself at present, it's not difficult.

> The kernel module handles the virtual filesystem; updating the cache
is done
> with user-space tools. The tool to automatically download files the first
> time (zero-install) is pretty much complete, but the tools for
throwing away
> old cached files when they're unneeded (or for updating to newer
versions)
> aren't. Also, while zero-install is downloading files, the parent process
> locks up with no feedback, and the tools to see what's happening are only
> partially complete (try the 0show command-line tool).
>
> I slapped together an init script, RPM pre/post scripts, etc. in about
a half
> hour, and they may need more work--it seems to work fine for me;
that's all I
> can promise.
>

I have some example spec files, (win4lin kernel images, NVidia kernel
modules, ltmodem kernel modules) if you want to see how it's done.

Regards,
Buchan

- --
|--------------Another happy Mandrake Club member--------------|
Buchan Milne                Mechanical Engineer, Network Manager
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