On Fri, 5 Jan 2007, UNIX admin wrote:
exactly which needed features are those that rpm has
that pkgadd does not ?
That's really for Martin and not for me to say, since he seems to be the one
preferring `rpm` to `pkgadd` and friends.
But since you're asking me, I'll tell you what I plan to do to `pkgadd`. I plan
to extend it such that by setting SUNW_PKG_REVCHECK=true or similar in the
pkginfo will make `pkgadd` revision aware.
I have to think about it some more, since I absolutely and without a doubt want
my ehancement to be both backward and forward compatible with the present
`pkgadd`.
There are principally several major features `pkgadd` is lacking, and those are:
if I need REV 1.0 or 2007.01.05.07 of some dependency,
and I have REV 3.2 or 2007.04.18.23 of the said software,
`pkgadd` should be able to recognize that I have satisfied the min REV
required, and plough on instead of doing a string-like check and *insisting*
that I need *exactly* REV 1.0 (or 2007.01.05.07, for example).
That right there is one of the biggest weaknesses of the System V packaging.
The second thing is how upgrades are handled; this, however, is an issue that
can be addressed separately.
For example, on SGI's IRIX, `inst` is smart enough to note the difference between two
same "subsystems" of a different revision: if a newer subsystem *does not* have
files that the old one does, the now unnecessary files will be automatically and
transparently removed by `inst`. This is an upgrade feature of `inst` that I find simply
and without any doubt phenomenal!!!
Both of the aforementioned issues and scenarios is where `inst` excells. I have
never worked with a UNIX/Linux software management subsystem as elegant and as
intelligent as `inst`!
If SGI should tank tomorrow, *one* technology I would want to preserve from
IRIX at all costs (even paying for it out of my own pocket!) would be `inst`.
It is simply ingenious.
They're pretty much tanked already:) IRIX is dead, if they open
sourced inst, maybe you can find out more about this functionality you
like so much, i'm not sure if they ever released that part of their OS or
not.
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