From: Massimiliano Mirra <list@...>
Date: 2002-11-09T03:04:38+09:00
Subject: Re: CPAN Style installer

On Fri, Nov 08, 2002 at 08:04:54PM +0900, Tom Clarke wrote:
> I hope this helps. If, I am misunderstanding anything about rpkg, please 
> let me know.

As requested:

> 	* Raa-install as indicated in its name doesn't try to do 
> everything, it builds on what we already have working (the RAA)

The RAA is good for developers, rpkg wants to also be good for users
and clients.

Users won't have root access, won't like sorting out package
dependencies and conflicts, and won't like compiling.  rpkg manages
user side installations, handles dependencies and conflicts, and
allows using precompiled packages.

Clients will just want the software, they won't care if it's in Ruby
or whatever, so you just install Ruby and rpkg and issue 

    $ rapt install http://your.site/your.app.metadata

and it'll install your app with all it needs.

> 	* Raa-install doesn't need a local database of which libraries 
> have been installed. This means that even if you don't use the installer 
> to install libraries, everything will still work

The current test release manages no database of installed files yet.
That's one of the first things to fix.  I'll leave a --force option
for the adventurous. :-)

> 	* Raa- install requires little new work from most developers, as 
> it supports the (mostly) standard ruby-tools for doing installation, in 
> fact the majority of packages work as is.

rpkg uses setup.rb, install.rb, extconf.rb where available.  Only new
work is writing a ~10 lines script to have them install to a specific
tree instead of the default (setup.rb --with-libdir=... etc.).


Massimiliano