PackageManager (again)

[mf]

Dr. Fred, could you please be a little descriptive on what the icons are about? I've never used a package manager apart from emerge and pkgtool, both commandline (thus no icons). A small description for every item you need an icon for would be nice, thanks.

[Dr. Fred]

Well ....
The icons for the window (16x16) and the exe (32x32) should be clear. They are just displayed in the taskbar and in the explorer when you open the program. It you be a packet or something.

The programs are displayed in a TreeView. TreeViews do suport icons (16x16) so there can be a icon for each root node. For example a for Internet & Network the earth or a cable.

In front of each program there will also be a icon. It sais what you want to do with the program (install.... ). (You can choose and than install several programs at once)

Then you have to choose if you want to do something with a program. At the moment this is in a toolbar, but we can do in anotherway later if people don't like it. So the toolbar has one icon for each action (also for doing nothing) and also the "DoIt", help and options button. The size is 16x16 in the moment, but can be changed.

[SirTalon]

Hey, I've also started writing a package manager for ROS (though its in C#, so it won't work till Mono does). At first I didn't intend for it to be a real package mananger (just a demonstration of what one would do to a single package). I'm planning on making it a complete working program (gonna test it on windows till Mono works on ROS), perhaps we can have a war of package manangers, and the best becoming the champion?

Once we both get a working implementation we should try and make sure they can work together. Also what language are you using (C? C++? A different one?).

Right now my implementation is using XML for the files that describe the packages, and I'm including a few extra things you aren't (if you want I'll post the example XML file I'm making and a description of how it works).

The package manager I'm writing also takes the subsystem and architecture into consideration, and you can specify different binary 'packets' (since I already used Package once I decided to use the term packets for the archives that contain the actual files that are installed).

I'm hoping to have a working program that will install a fake package by the end of the weekend.

BTW: This is the first program I've written in C# So when you see it and are like 'omfg this sucks' remember that so its only 'omg this sucks'

[Dr. Fred]

Hi,

I'm using C++. I would really enjoy to see how you are doing things. I think you are further than me. (but you don't have to use stupid winapi)

PS: A package manager is not only useful for ros, but (maybe) also for windows.

[Phalanx]

Can we please not have 10 different package formats and 10 different dependencies (like mono) to run a package manager!

[SirTalon]

Well right now its annoying cause I'm having problems figuring out how to open another program from inside of C# (so i can open like 7-Zip to extract an archive), right now I'm just working around that and am using an already extracted version (the finally standalone version will download it from my site, and extract it, I'm skipping those 2 steps for now).

Oh yes, and XML is a pain . I should read the XML section of my C++ GUI Programming with QT book (just so I have a CLUE what I'm doing).


Wow I just thought of a HUGE problem with uninstalling, what are we going to do about the user's registry settings for the program when its uninstalled? Just leave stale settings sitting around forever? This isn't good...

[SirTalon]

Well I'm pretty sure Mono is gonna be getting more and more common as .Net get more popular. But right now there are 2 package managers (cause 2 people have ideas for them). Right now were both going to make a working version, then merge all the good stuff, and remove all the useless junk (that way you get the best of both, without the crap of either). There WILL still be 2 package managers, they WILL be 100% compatible eventually though (saying one doesn't die off). Once a working package manager exists I'm planning on writing a program to make it easy to create packages (which will be simple to write compared to the package manager).

Oh and Mono is 1 dependency. Expect there to be a few with most programs as complex as a package mananger if you want the program done any time soon. Mono WILL be the only dependency mine will have (since it includes all the functions I will need), also I'm planning on testing it on Linux as soon as I get it to work on Windows (if not before).

Having 10 different package managers isn't a problem, only 10 incompatible formats. Long as the people making the package managers communicate, everything will end up better.

[Quigs]

Can we include 7-zip in the ROS API, make it really easy for developers to extract and compress, stuff

[NetSlayer]

Wow I just thought of a HUGE problem with uninstalling, what are we going to do about the user's registry settings for the program when its uninstalled? Just leave stale settings sitting around forever? This isn't good...

Well designed software doesn't alter the registry (at least not without the user's permission, e.g. loading at startup)

[SirTalon]

Well designed software doesn't alter the registry (at least not without the user's permission, e.g. loading at startup)

I mean the registry settings for the program, global and per user.

I think thats one of the reasons why Windows slowly slows down the longer its used.

Can we include 7-zip in the ROS API, make it really easy for developers to extract and compress, stuff

Not sure about Dr. Fred, but my version was going to use 7-zip as the default format for packages (though future version will support more formats like tar, gz, bzip2, and zip probably)

My first version of the package manager won't be usable as a dll (or .Nets equivalent), but thats one of the things I plan on doing for the second release.

UPDATE: Oops! I must of misread Quigs's post, I thought he meant as a format packages can be in! (w3seek pointed out that Cab will be the format used, see next message).

[w3seek]

7zip is not going to be included into the reactos tree as it's everything but a standard format. reactos uses and should use the .cab format which we already have apis for.

[ScoTTie]

7zip is not going to be included into the reactos tree as it's everything but a standard format. reactos uses and should use the .cab format which we already have apis for.

and thats appart from the fact it takes hours to decompress anything in the 7zip format on older machines. in this and and age where broadband is very common and hdd's are huge there no need to waste time uncompressing stuff for 3 times as long where you might end up only saving a few kb.

on a side note, i use 56k and have a fast computer, 7zip still doesnt appeal to me..

[Quigs]

i wasnt just suggesting the 7z format I was suggesting all of the formats supported by 7zip, and at first I meant to just suggest it for package managers... but now that I think about it....

WindowsXP has the built in ZIP support, so we could include built in ZIP, RAR, 7z, etc quite easily...

[Dr. Fred]

We already have ZLib so the most importained format is there.

WindowsXP has the built in ZIP support, so we could include built in ZIP, RAR, 7z, etc quite easily...

If we do that (if possible) please not in the way windows does it, but as a filesystemdriver. That would offer much more comfort.

[NetSlayer]

If we do that (if possible) please not in the way windows does it, but as a filesystemdriver. That would offer much more comfort.

How do you want to program a file system driver for ZIP files? I don't want to mount ZIP files, really.