[Installit-dev] "package manager " becomes "InstallIt"

[Jannis Pohlmann]

Nicolas Masse schrieb:
> Here is my point of view af all that:
> 
> On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 16:06:44 +0300
> Tuukka Mäkinen <tukem at iki.fi> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Benedict listed lot of good stuff I wanted to say but I'll post my view of how 
>>system might work anyway. Perhaps it'll give some ideas to somebody.
>>
>>
>>1. Check what package manager plugins are installed
>>2. Show package manager selection dialog
> 
> 
> 1st run only. Then can be available throught a separate dialog. 

I think configuring some things on first startup is ok. But things must
be kept simple, then so the average user isn't confronted with geeky stuff.

> 
> 
>>3. Tell plugin to check if it exists on the system
>>3a. continue
>>3b. Error dialog
> 
> 
> yes, we must not forget that :-). 
> But, perhaps would it be better to just show available package manager systems in 2.
> (note verification can also be done to verify that the pre-selected system is always available, 
> even if the opposite is unlikely to happen)

We don't need to check if the "plugin" (?) exists. We provide the user
with a list of implementations/backends available and he chooses which
one to use. That's all.

> 
> 
>>4. Show main view
>>4a. Get list of available packages from somewhere or use previously fetched list
>>4b. Update the list at some point. Automatically or on request?
>>
> 
> Since we want something out of the box, I think default must be automatic (or at least ask the user to update every week for example). Also we can do here a distinction between tha packages installed on the local computer (to see if they were updated for example) and the others.

At least on first startup you will neither have a mirror list nor a
package list on your desktop. Due to this the program will automatically
fetch one from the mirror you selected and, well, that's it.

We then store the timestamp of that download and advise the user to
update after a certain amount of time. Additionally, we should warn the
user not to install when the list may be already outdated (= when it
wasn't updated today).

> 
>>Install:
>>1. Show mirror list dialog with last used mirror preselected
> 
> 
> Hmm, IMHO not by default. Perhaps for the 1st run. Then available throught a separate dialog.

Right, for the first run. After this you'll have a separate server setup
dialog reachable from the menu.

> 
> 
>>2. Download sources for selected package
>>3. Ask installation paths from plugin
> 
> 
> yes, with a default one pre-selected.

The backend API might need something like a flag which tells us there's
no default installation path. For RPM, DEB etc. there is (/usr) but
maybe on other systems there isn't (source for example). If there is
*one* we can just head on. If not, we'll have to let the user decide
(maybe only on the first run, too).

- Jannis