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List:       suse-linux-e
Subject:    Re: [SLE] APT vs YOU -- redoux   :o)
From:       Richard Bos <allabos () freeler ! nl>
Date:       2003-01-30 22:05:21
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Wow Peter,

that are many questions.

Op donderdag 30 januari 2003 19:50, schreef Peter B Van Campen:
> So in light of this news I think it is time to look at APT again. My
> impression of APT is that it is a tool of greater depth and ability. 

Nice.

> What is the SuSE stand on APT? 

Suse's official stand is focussed on yast/you.  Actually suse had the 
oppertunity to introduce apt last year, but at that moment suse came up with 
YPM (yast package manager).  The reason that apt won't be used/supported by 
suse might be due to its flexibility.  With ypm suse is better able to 
control what the user may do.  Which is good if the user is just an average 
user, but it may feel like a jail if one wants to do more with its system.
Another reason is probably better internationalization suppport by ypm, which 
is of course very important.
One more reason is that suse wants to support 1 online update tool only.  (hmm 
by using oss (being apt), there might be less support effort needed).  APT is 
used by 2 of suse's united linux partners: conectiva and sco.  Actually 
conectiva maintains apt-rpm.  Further more apt is used by some other rpms 
based distro's.
I've once be told that ypm/yast may have a plugin possibility.  Perhaps this 
is true and one can provide an apt plugin for ypm, who knows?

> Do the APT repositories contain official packages,(blessed by SuSE)?
Yes, it does (the apt components base, update, security, kde, kde3-stable, 
some more, are just providing the SuSE rpms nothing more nothing less (just 
follow the links I would say).  There are however other components that 
provide other stuff.  Some are easy to recognize by their prefix "suser" = 
suse users, others are more difficult to recognize: "extra", "packman*", 
"funktronics", "usr-local-bin", "suse-people", etc.

> How does APT achieve the level of package integration that we expected from
> YOU? 
The idea is: an rpm keeps all information about itself, e.g. which rpms it 
requires and provides.  APT builds at the server databases with this 
information, containing rpm (text) info, files (libraries) info, dependency 
info, etc.  The databases are than retrieved by the (client) user.  The apt 
client is now able to overlook _all_ available information about the rpms.  
And the client uses that info to determine which packages to install or to 
remove.  A nice thing of apt is that the apt repositories  may be distributed 
over many servers, starting with your local system, via an intranet to the 
servers that can be reached via the internet.  There are some tools out there 
(eg apt4rpm) that assist you in creating an apt repository.
One major goal of apt is to keep the dependency relations among the installed 
rpms consistent.  So if you tell apt to remove qt3 it will do so, including 
all packages that depend on it (being all kde and yast packages).

> Does SuSE offer a SuSE APT? 
You mean an apt repository?  No.  SuSE provides the rpms, that are turned into 
an apt repository.

> When SuSE issues bugfixes or security fixes via YOU will YOU 'know' about
> APT installed or updated apps? Will YAST2 'install or remove' app know about
> and handle APT installed stuff?

YOU and apt are both using the rpm database to store which packages have been 
installed.  So, the answer is basically yes.  However, it seems that you/ypm 
holds it own internal db as well, therefor ypm tells/advises you sometimes to 
remove/re-install rpms.  The latter may be rpms that have been installed via 
apt, gnorpm, kpackage, just rpm on the command line....

Long story, I hope it provides all the info you're looking for.  If not post 
the questions after reading: http://linux01.gwdg.de/apt4rpm

-- 
Richard Bos
Without a home the journey is endless


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