Re: BAD: Handling of package-index by package release and install system

SY> |--==> "APA" == Adrian Aichner <Adrian.Aichner(a)t-online.de&gt; writes: APA> Hello All, Hello Steve, APA> many of you must be experiencing the same problems. SY> Not if you're careful. Rephrase that to: Not if your're not using a native Windows XEmacs. Perhaps that is what you mean by being careful :-) APA> I had long wanted to write about the breakage I see. APA> Some Facts: APA> The package-index file contains APA> (package-get-update-base-entry (quote ...)) APA> forms. SY> Yes. APA> The file is not meant to be hand-edited: APA> ;; Package Index file -- Do not edit manually. APA> ;;;＠＠＠ APA> (package-get-update-base-entry (quote APA> ... SY> True. APA> Building a package adds a APA> (package-get-update-base-entry (quote ...)) APA> form at the beginning of the package-index file in the staging area. SY> Not quite correct. If the entry doesn't already exist it will get SY> written to the top of the file. However, if it does exist, the old SY> entry is overwritten. Not for me. APA> The Problem: APA> When a package-index file is read, the last APA> (package-get-update-base-entry (quote ...)) APA> form for a certain package in that file supercedes earlier ones. SY> In the normal course of events there is only one entry per package. SY> So this doesn't happen. Aha, this must be a problem with my platform then. APA> This means that the Package Release Engineer has to fiddle with the APA> package-index file or remove the package-index file and rebuild all APA> packages from scratch. SY> The only "fiddling" that I do with the package-index file is make sure SY> I have the right version of it in $STAGING. SY> Building all the packages from scratch for me is a *BIG PAIN* because SY> I would have to re-release each and every package each time I wanted SY> to release a single package. Because of the md5sums. Each time you SY> build a package you get a *different* md5sum, regardless of whether SY> anything has changed in the package. Yes, I know. APA> Two Questions: APA> 1. Is it a valuable feature for the package-index file to contain APA> multiple instances of the same package to provide a building history APA> of packages? We don't seem to have the interfaces to make use of this APA> feature today. SY> No. At least not until the package system evolves into something a SY> lot more intelligent than what we have now. OK. I guess I'll go bug-hunting. APA> 2. Shouldn't the latest addition to the package-index file supercede APA> older definitions? SY> It does. APA> Has anybody been working on these problems already? SY> Not me. I don't see a problem. APA> I think item 2 really needs fixing. SY> It ain't broke. Yes it is :-) Later, Adrian SY> -- SY> |---<Steve Youngs>---------------<GnuPG KeyID: 9E7E2820>---| SY> | XEmacs - It's not just an editor. | SY> | It's a way of life. | SY> |------------------------------------&lt;youngs(a)xemacs.org&gt;---| -- Adrian Aichner mailto:adrian＠xemacs.org http://www.xemacs.org/