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List:       opensuse-factory
Subject:    Re: [opensuse-factory] To PackageKit or not to PackageKit
From:       Guido Berhoerster <gber () opensuse ! org>
Date:       2012-11-01 13:51:13
Message-ID: 20121101135113.GC15835 () hal ! local ! invalid
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* Raymond Wooninck <tittiatcoke@gmail.com> [2012-11-01 14:27]:
> On Thursday 01 November 2012 13:44:19 Guido Berhoerster wrote:
> > It wouldn't tkae too much effort to swap out the PackageKit
> > backend in pk-update-icon with a zypper-based one, in fact I do
> > already have a parser for zyppers XML output from some
> > experiments last year. It uses GTK+ but the UI consists only of a
> > tray icon and notification bubble which would open "yast2
> > online_update" when activated so it should not look alien in KDE.
> > So if there's a rough consensus that we want to go with a minimal
> > notifier and update via YaST's online_update module I could put
> > something together.
> 
> It is not only a matter of the effort required to build something small to 
> perform this task. I have no doubt that you are able to deliver what you 
> indicated, but are you willing to maintain this piece of software for the rest 
> of it's lifecycle ? Because if we introduce another piece of software which 
> will not be supported in the future, then we end up exactly at the same place 
> as we are now. 

I already do maintain pk-update-icon, so there wouldn't be any
change. Besides, this is really simple code (parsing zypper --xmlout,
calling zypp-refresh if the cache is outdated, and popping up a
libnotify notification with a tray icon if updates are found)
with few dependencies so the cost of maintaining it is very low
and somebody else could easily take over if the need arises. I
will probably have to do it anyway sooner or later if
gpk-update-viewer becomes unusable outside of GNOME like so many
other GNOME applications.

> I guess that we should also be looking at the position we are now. Recently 
> this mailinglist has been flooded with complaints with regards to the tools 
> openSUSE is using for booting, repairtools, etc. There were even some 
> indications that other distributions have much better tools, etc. But as soon 
> as it comes to move to a more distro-independent solution, people are coming 
> up that we can create little programs around the tools we have. There is 
> nothing wrong with this, but is this the position we want to be in ?? 

That I can't really answer, I'm just saying it's doable with
relatively little cost. I also think there is nothing comparable
in other distros to the toolset provided by YaST. In particular
as a package and update manager it is vastly superior to the
various PackageKit frontends where the extra abstraction layer
adds a lot of complexity and potential bugs without much of a
benefit.
-- 
Guido Berhoerster
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