[Clipart] Update Packages

[Aaron J. Seigo]

On Tuesday 19 April 2005 11:40, Nathan Eady wrote:
>  >>I have thought about this, but this may be the first time it has been
>  >>brought up on the list.  The main problem I see is with the logistics
>  >>of how the user would merge the updates into the previously-downloaded
>  >>release.
>
> Of course, if there were an unpackaging tool familiar with the
> particulars of the package format, it could handle that, but I
> think for the moment we have to assume such a thing is future;
> right now, I think anything we release needs to be usable as
> it stands.  So, how would the user go about merging the updates?

if i were doing it, i'd supply a script that would be run as part of the 
install process. rpm/deb support post install scripts, so if installing via 
those mechanisms it would be "automagic", otherwise the user could download 
and "run" the package which would consist of a shell script prepended to an 
installation routine+data.

if you have seen the "all-in-one" installer that Apollon uses (arkollon), you 
know how easy and sweet this can be. you haven't tried it, go grab it from 
kde-apps.org just to experience the install, which is _from source_ even. 
it's crazy-good =)

the updater script could be a shell script or even perl since that's generally 
universally available these days. the process would simply be one of copying 
the new files to their location, moving existing files aroun, removing files 
that were removed and applying patches to the index files (or even just 
completely replacing them; they can't be THAT big =)... all of this could be 
done based on a list of files that would ship with the update package, making 
each update a matter of changing this one file and including the new images. 
this process could be automated with a tool that compares two given releases.

the format of the update file could be kept quite simple. =)

this whole process could be automated furthe for the user if they are using a 
network-aware clip art browser such as Bryce mentioned yesterday (and to 
whose email i still need to reply =)

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
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