I believe we need a mechanism to extract a deployment module from a
Repository. This would enable:
1. Provisioning systems to copy from a remote repository to a local
instance.
2. Migration of all content from one repository to another.
3. Backup of repository content regardless of implementation.
4. Tooling to gather dependent deployment modules into a larger
deployment unit.
Given that Repository.install() currently takes a URL parameter, it
would be nicely symmetrical if Repository could produce a URL (for a
given ModuleDefinition) that could be passed directly to install(). For
Repositories that act as a front end for a remote store, returning such
a URL may be a little extra work, but the underlying mechanisms are
already required. For local Repositories, if we recommend that
implementations keep the original deployment module as a separate file,
then a simple "file:" url can be returned. (Modulo the usual unspecified
valid lifetime issue inherent in most URLs.)
Thoughts?
// Bryan
