[packagekit] Dictionary of terms

[Richard Hughes]

I'm trying to write a dictionary of terms, as it's all getting very
complicated. This is what I've got so far:

      <term>Backend</term>
          The type of package management framework your distribution is using,
          for example <command>apt-get</command> or <command>yum</command>.
      <term>Transaction</term>
          A single task which may encompass several sub-transactions.
          A transaction typically might be <emphasis>Update system</emphasis>
          and a sub-transaction might be <emphasis>update package gimp-help</emphasis>.
          Transactions always are serialised, and never overlap.
      <term>Transaction ID</term>
          A unique ID that is used to identify the transaction.
          A Transaction ID is sometimes abbreviated to a <emphasis>tid</emphasis>.
          An example Transaction ID is <literal>398_addedebd_data</literal>.
      <term>Package ID</term>
          An unique identifier that identifies a package in any software source.
          This encompasses its name, version, architecture, and repository location.
          An example Package ID is <literal>powertop;1.8-1.fc8;i386;fedora-updates</literal>.
      <term>Distro ID</term>
          An identifier for the distribution used.
          This is used to check for service pack compatibility and for internal logging.
          An example Distro ID is <literal>fedora-9-i686</literal>.
      <term>Collection</term>
          An abstract package that contains other packages.
          This can be thought of as a <emphasis>meta-package</emphasis> that pulls
          in other packages as dependencies.
      <term>Category</term>
          A distribution specified custom group that specifies the name and icon
          of a menu item, and can be used to build up a custom menu structure.
          There are typically only a few packages in each category.
      <term>Group</term>
          A broad distribution and desktop neutral classification that is used
          There are often many packages in a single group.
      <term>Service Pack</term>
          An archive of packages, with all the dependant packages included.
          This allows a user to download packages for another computer.
      <term>Package</term>
          A single archive that contains program files that can be installed or
          removed from the system.
          Packages can be installed or available.
      <term>Catalog</term>
          A set of instructions that can be written to install a custom collection
          of packages on a computer.
          Catalog files can be made OS and distribution agnostic, even when
          distributions do not agree on package names.
      <term>Package List</term>
          A list of all the packages on a remote system.
          This is needed to create Service Packs with the correct dependencies included.

Suggestions and corrections welcome.

Richard.