From: "Mauricio Fernández" Date: 2004-08-23T06:54:31+09:00 Subject: [ANN] rpa-base 0.2.1pre1 rpa-base 0.2.1pre1 is now available at http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org . Many of the most popular libraries/applications as per Rubyforge statistics (rails, rake, redcloth, activerecord, sqlite, log4r, copland, ruvi, to name a few) have been packaged for use with rpa-base 0.2.1pre1. You can find a list of the 100+ packages at http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Packaged_Software Screenshots and animations can be found at http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Rpa_Base_In_Action rpa-base 0.2.1pre1 fixes some issues in the bootstrapping phase, which couldn't hence be solved through the normal self-upgrade mechanism. In addition to several other bugfixes, 0.2.1pre1 features better proxy support, isolation of unit tests run automatically when installing a lib/app, and improvements in the command-line tool. Foreword -------- The Ruby Production Archive (RPA) will provide packages of Ruby libraries and programs in a form that allows production use, engineered through a stringent process resembling FreeBSD's or Debian's. rpa-base is a port/package manager designed to support RPA. Its scope and purposes are different to those of other systems like RubyGems. Features ======== rpa-base is a port/package manager designed to support RPA's client-side package management. You can think of it as RPA's apt-get + dpkg. It features the following as of 0.2.1pre1: * strong dependency management: rpa-base installs dependencies as needed, keeps track of reverse dependencies on uninstall, and will remove no longer needed dependencies * atomic (de)installs: operations on the local RPA installation are atomic transactions; the system has been designed to survive ruby crashes (OS crashes too on POSIX systems) * parallel installs: you can install several ports in parallel; builds will be parallelized and the final phase will be serialized properly * self-hosting: rpa-base installs and updates itself * modular, extensible design: the 2-phase install is similar to FreeBSD and Debian's package creation; rpa-base packages need not be restricted to installing everything under a single directory ("1 package, 1 dir" paradigm) * rdoc integration: RDoc documentation for libraries is generated at install time (currently disabled on win32) * ri integration: ri data files are generated for all the libraries managed by RPA; you can access this information with ri-rpa * handling C extensions: if you have the required C toolchain, rpa-base can compile extensions as needed * unit testing: when a library is installed, its unit tests are run; the installation is canceled if they don't pass Several of the above features are illustrated in the screenshots and animations available at http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Rpa_Base_In_Action Limitations: ============ A number of features have been pushed back to 0.3.0: * full support for binary platform-specific packages * signed packages/ports * system-wide configuration system * better user interface In practice, the first one is the most limiting at the moment since it means that win32 users in particular need a working C toolchain to install extensions. This will soon be addressed. Status ------ Please keep in mind that RPA is at an embryonic stage; this means that it is impossible to commit to all the long term goals stated in the manifesto (http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?RpaManifesto) at the moment. This doesn't make rpa-base any less usable however. rpa-base requires Ruby 1.8.[12] (certainly 1.8 at least, it might work on 1.8.0); it has been tested on several Linux distributions (Debian, Fedora, older RH, Gentoo, etc), FreeBSD, DragonFly BSD, Mac OSX, win32 (cygwin, 'pragmatic installer', WinXP and 2K). rpa-base is fairly stable at this stage; it has been tested on several platforms during the last 2 1/2 months. Since rpa-base can self-update, eventual bugs discovered through the intensive testing associated with a public release could be solved easily by upgrading rpa-base using rpa-base itself. We would appreciate any feedback on rpa-base. A mailing list has been set up for that purpose: http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rpa-base-testers RPA needs your help =================== RPA is an ambitious project in need for developers. These are some of the areas that need to be worked on: * packaging (new software and package maintenance) * setting up a permanent repository infrastructure * cross-compilation and build automation * website development (should provide package indexes, QA section, bugtracking, etc) Please contact me at (adding RPA to the subject will help get it past the spam filtering ;) or via IRC, batsman @ #ruby-lang on freenode.net if you have any interest or for any additional information on RPA/rpa-base and their goals. -- Running Debian GNU/Linux Sid (unstable) batsman dot geo at yahoo dot com