Source-code package management

[Lonnie Cumberland]

Greetings All,

I hope that you are well today.

Source code repositories, package management and application dependencies
are a huge challenge in the current age of end-users and developers alike.
 I have seen many efforts in these areas, and there does not seem to be a
"best" solution that works for everyone.

On the developer side, I am a proponent for hierarchical tree structures in
which you keep the main system components distinctively separated from
things like 3rd part applications and the like.

In the case of Genode, perhaps something like:

---------------------------------------------------
3rd_party
ports
ports_foc
libs
qt4
libports
os
main (the current OS contents here)
bases
base-codezero
base-fiasco
base-foc
base-host
base-hw
base-linux
base-nova
base-okl4
base-pistachio
base
drivers
dde_ipxe
dde_linux
dde_oss
dde_rump
tools
examples
demo
hello_tutorial
doc
README
LICENSE
Howto
build
-------------------------------------------

I'm sure that this is not the best structure and layout, but the idea is
that it keeps the Genode and the particular kernel completely separated
from 3rd party apps and ports. This way you always know what the "system"
needs for it basic minimal build a opposed to intermixing the drivers,
libs, and applications like in other OS distributions.

Something that might be considered for the build system perhaps, is the way
that Linux Gentoo Emerge works for their ports system. That systems seems
to be rather good at building everything that is needed for a particular
application, library, or other with relative ease.

Also, one thing that I really find bothersome in other OS distributions is
that they tend to add all of the various system files together into a mess
of files.

What I mean is that, for example, linux and windows will put application
libraries mixed in with system libraries, and the like. This really makes a
mess in the filesystem which promotes things like zombie libraries and
configuration files, etc.....

Perhaps one idea, might be to think about the way that "portable"
applications are packaged in that they typically keep almost all of their
needed libraries with the application that uses them. This could be good
from the standpoint of different application versions needing different
versions of the same libraries because they would be stored with the
application and not the OS.

Also, the OS would not continue to grow to an unmanageable size due to
application installations. This would allow for tighter control of the OS
and its needed libraries, drivers, etc....

Just my opinion though and I am sure that there may be even better
solutions than I have mentioned here, but currently, I advocate the Gentoo
Portage (emerge) and Portable Applications approach as a possible solution.

Kind Regards and have a great day,
Lonnie

On Wed, Mar 5, 2014 at 5:43 AM, Norman Feske
<norman.feske at ...1...>wrote:

> Hello,
>
> related to the recent discussions about improving the ease of use of the
> framework, I'd like to point you to a current discussion about changing
> the structure of the source tree and the management of 3rd-party code:
>
>   https://github.com/genodelabs/genode/issues/1082
>
> Please do not hesitate to participate with sharing your experience,
> opinions, and suggestions.
>
> Personally, I am particularly interested in your individual notion of
> "ease of use". (that I wish to accommodate as far as possible)
>
> Cheers
> Norman
>
> --
> Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske
> Genode Labs
>
> http://www.genode-labs.com · http://genode.org
>
> Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden
> Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth
>
>
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