From: "Mauricio Fernández" Date: 2005-03-15T21:15:15+09:00 Subject: Re: Codefest Grant - RubyGems cleanup and enhancement On Tue, Mar 15, 2005 at 11:37:31AM +0900, "Pe�a, Botp" wrote: > Mauricio Fern�ndez [mailto:batsman.geo@yahoo.com] wrote: > > //The port/package manager (rpa-base) and the incipient > //infrastructure (repository, VCS, wiki) are unsatisfactory > //under our (admittedly severe) criteria. They will undergo > //major restructuring. Had they been deemed adequate, RPA would > //have been proposed for widespread public consumption long > //ago, but it was in a testing phase for a reason. > > noble deed; but have you already addressed the common complaint of > developers that rpa is not yet documented? It seems that they have > difficulty creating their own rpas... They you have utilities for fast rpa > generation? rpa-base in its current state will probably not be documented for mass consumption because it is going to change a lot. Asking you to use a tool we are not entirely satisfied with :) would not be very reasonable. There's a heavy responsibility associated to saying "plz use this to package your sw."; we don't want people to have to package it twice due to some incompatible change, and, as I said before, rpa-base *must* change because it is not really satisfactory yet. We've learned quite a bit from the first testing phase, and I think we now know the requirements well enough to create a tool that will satisfy RPA's requirements and incidentally prove useful to other people. When the time comes, it will be well-documented and offered for mass consumption. > //As for (2), it is hard to tell which are exactly RubyGems' > //goals because AFAIK there is no public manifesto comparable to > //http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?RpaManifesto > > yes, but gems is already being used/promoted (look at rails) by hundreds of > developers. There must be something good in it. Definitely. RubyGems is, well, *the* primary distribution format for Rails. It matches Rails' philosophy very well. Note that I'm not discussing the goodness of RubyGems, but... [read below] > //I would really appreciate if Chad, Jim, Gavin, ..., clarified > //the situation. Especially since there have been some talks as > //of late about RubyGems replacing RAA altogether, RubyGems > //being the only repository for Ruby software, etc. ... rather asking RubyGems' developers to write a document explaining their goals. Not really for me, mind you (I know RubyGems fairly well, and I've talked with the RubyGems developers quite often), but for people like those who began this thread. > I would not concern myself about that. Forcing_ everyone to use gem is > stupid (like forcing everyone to use rpm :). RAA should just be index. Yes, I know that that (replacing RAA altogether) is not happening, but seemingly not everyone out there does. The RubyGems team could prevent further waste of time and BW by explaining this in a manifesto, I believe. > I still want to get pristine untouched code of the author; and tar w setup of > the humble aoki is still the way for me. No politics. Yes, Aoki's setup.rb is still the best solution (better than rpa-base too) in many cases. I once proposed it as a repackager-neutral standard but the current trend seems to be gem-only releases. > RPA is great software. I never had an issue or bug encountered. If you build [BTW I remember your still unsatisfied feature request and can promise it will be present in the next phase :)] > it quick for everyone's consumption, they will use it. Time is moving fast, > and many people cannot wait... Thank you for your kinds words. I know that many people would like RPA to happen quicker :)... I can confidently say that RPA will develop faster in the near future, and the experience gathered last year will be very helpful. I believe the situation is mature now; the real repository is not very far away, but we still have quite some work to do. -- Hassle-free packages for Ruby? RPA is available from http://www.rubyarchive.org/