[packagekit] Cross-distro package mapping and matching?

[Sebastian Pipping]

Richard Hughes wrote:
> Agreed. I don't think there is much to gain from this mapping. I think
> there is one way all of this can just work. We search for the binary
> name.

This does not work on source-based distributions.  For instance
on Gentoo you cannot tell what files come out of package X before
you actually compile it.  Due to the concept of use flags that set
of files varies.  That's why filename-to-package mapping at the moment
only works for installed files and packages.


> Now, this relies on the systems giving things the same binary name
> between systems, but this seems to be better than using the package
> name.
> 
> If you're using the system interface, then you can do
> SearchFile(foo,none) and then get the package name. If you're using
> the session interface there's even a method to install a package
> providing a file.
> 
> For instance, installing the package that provides
> /usr/include/libnotify/notify.h gets me the right thing on Debian,
> Fedora and SUSE. Doing things with a package name just wouldn't work
> as well.

As above, this won't work with Gentoo.
Can you elaborate on your preference over a unique package identifier?



Sebastian