On Mon 09 Feb 2009 at 07:45PM, Shawn Walker wrote:
> Alan Coopersmith wrote:
> > The functionality in the following post about Synaptic sounds like an
> > excellent idea for reinstalling or cloning systems - being able to save
> > a list of installed packages and then import the list to reinstall them.
> >
> > They describe a GUI implementation, which the Package Manager GUI should
> > be able to imitate, but CLI interfaces would be nice too. Is this already
> > in the plans? (Or already in the product and I've just not noticed?)
>
> The distribution constructor is the right tool for reinstalling or
> cloning systems and I believe this particular case is planned to be
> handled at some point in the future.
Perhaps for cloning systems, but I strongly believe that we need this
functionality. It's key for enterprises. I've mentioned this RFE
several times to several people on the team but I don't think an RFE is
filed.
Without looking at the synaptic thing (intentionally) here is a sketch of
what I'd like:
- Export a list of packages to some list format (xml, yaml,
text, whatever works). Probably also needs to distill some
info about authorities. Format should be documented so that
such manifests can be authored and/or hand edited as needed.
- Given a system and such a list, implement a couple of modes
of "sync up":
- Install system fresh, using list as input (i.e. hand the
list to AI)
- Upgrade any packages listed in the list which are present
on the system, but are downrev compared to the list. (call
this "conformance syncup"). This lets an enterprise roll
out a particular security or app update very easily.
- Add any packages on the list missing from the system, and
upgrade any packages listed which are downrev compared to
the list (call this "loose syncup" perhaps)
- Make the system conform exactly, or as exactly as possible
to the list, removing packages as needed (call this
"strict syncup"). An open question is what should happen
if a strict syncup would require a downgrade.
There are a lot of details to be worked out, but I'd really like to see
this because it will allow enterprises to set and maintain policies,
which is something I hear a lot from customers as a need. Today we
see customers using sparse zones as a half-measure way to get some
of this.
Sorry I've been negligent in writing this up. I'd dearly love for
someone to work on this and to refine the proposal.
-dp
--
Daniel Price, Solaris Kernel Engineering http://blogs.sun.com/dp
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