[packagekit] AppInstall: Suggestion for application management with Listaller

[Matthias Klumpp]

On Sat, 4 Sep 2010 20:34:00 +0100, Richard Hughes <hughsient at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On 4 September 2010 18:01, Matthias Klumpp <matthias at nlinux.org> wrote:
>> But using a custom packageID for Listaller-only apps could
>> be a solution.
> 
> Could Listaller just add an attribute to the applications table? I
> don't think it matters if other applications add stuff to the database
> schema.
Of course, this is possible.

>> We reviewed the current AppInstall layout and Chris invented a new
>> design,
>> which fits the Listaller requirements and also makes the DB easier to
>> handle.
> 
> Why do you need to know the application desktop file, and the
> timestamp?
The desktop-file is Listaller's applicationID. It finds applications by
their desktop files, so Listaller needs a desktop file to remove an
application.

> I'm also not sure the repository table belongs in the
> app-install database, it seems very Listaller specific.
No, actually this was added because of PK :D We have a repo_id at time,
which defines the origin of each app. The suggestion is to add a new
"repository" table to define the used repositories and just add a repo_id
to each app entry. But the repository stuff is completely independent from
Listaller, because it does only work with repos if it installs something.
(But then we have an easy-to-edit file with repos)

> That said, you're tree to add tables as long as you also add the
required
> TRIGGERs to ensure the entries get cleaned up whe app-install-admin
> revoves entries.
Can be done. There's something I don't understand about the current
concept: If I do a dist-upgrade, how is the AppInstall data updated?

Do you have an idea where to add Listaller support? In PK? In frontends?
Regards
  Matthias

P.S: I've updated parts of the Listaller API and I'm running some tests
with it at time. It integrates very well into the current frontends, excapt
for the fact that some actions of Listaller are currently blocking. I try
to get non-blocking actions using GThreads. 

PPS: As I said I spoke with my team about Listaller<>PK, and some of them
became interested in the current discussion. They might show up on the IRC
or this mailing list with some new ideas :)