[packagekit] Feeding messages to user while installing packages

[Anders F Björklund]

Fabio Erculiani wrote:

>> And for rpm, no input/output should be the default package manager behaviour.
> 
> That's probably the reason why PackageKit doesn't support it.
> Looks like the motto is "As long as it works for Fedora, it's all good
> and other scenarios are not considered". If a project is advertised as
> distro-independent, it should at least give distributors some
> flexibility to implement features as their users expect :-(

To be honest I'm not sure why PackageKit even supports building
from source. Or when it does, why not do it for all backends...
(It would be nice to have both "View Source" and "Build Source"
buttons in any interface for an Open Source software manager)

i.e. seems like using .tbz2 and "emerge --usepkg --getbinpkg"
would be more in line with what the other backends are doing...
(and same for the .tbz and "portinstall −‐use‐packages" for BSD)
Maybe even --usepkgonly/−‐use‐packages‐only, and *never* ports...


I think it's not so much the distro, but the intended audience ?

Users of PackageKit, whether it's an actual person or some
other program wanting to install a system package, typically
don't care about options and interaction and install details.
The package scripts are "supposed" to run any command needed.

But if PK can be made to interact with debconf for options (?),
then you probably *could* do the same thing for the building.
Like an EULA, have it block the process until user acknowledges.
Most would just blindly hit "OK" without reading anyway, but.

But I think you need to "just use the command line" instead...

--anders