[packagekit] PackageKit for source based distribution

[Mounir Lamouri]

Hi,

Portage's backend implementation progresses and before I work on the big part
(installation) I would like to discuss the packagekit status for source based
distribution (which means source-based package manager).

It looks like packagekit as been designed for binary-based distribution. For
packagekit a package is a tarball with needed files. For example, get_mime_types
and install_files are not needed by a source-based distribution as you can't
untar a package to get it installed.

Anyway, while there are only unneeded things everything is good but I think it
could be great to add a new backend function that could be
backend_compile[_package]. It could be better for user because seeing
"installing foo package" for minutes or hours can be confusing. For sure, Gentoo
user's know they will probably be compiling stuff is probably better.
As a first step, this function could be called if defined and maybe if some
backends need it for source/binary packages, it could be more flexible ?

Thanks,
Mounir