USM Unified Slackware Package Manager

[beny]

brokenman you have done a good job the salix repository is available thank to you for the first time out of salix environment,deps search is ok i have just try with vlc from salix repos and all the txz are stored into /tmp/usm so via cli it is possible to merge all the packages into one xzm package,i don't have a gui,i think if someone know porteus don't search other system.

[brokenman]

there should be a probe about activating the modules

Ok so if I understand correctly, the popup window asking if the user wants to 'open' the storage folder should instead be ... "Would you like to activate/install the downloaded packages?"

[sean]

@brokenman,

You know the fella that did the review perhaps was in a hurry or something. francois has made a good point about an activation probe. Most distro's do an automatic install after a download, but we don't.

I would suggest giving a day or so of thought to how you wish to word any instructions. Because of our unique download/install/activate method, it might be a good idea to address the "optional" directory in /porteus also. I'm thinking here of something along the lines of:

You have, or are about to, download(ed) a package from a respoitory. You have 2 options:
1 - Install the package/module after downloading (Porteus calls this "Activate")
2 - Save the package/module in a holding directory on the system which you can access and Install/Activate at a later time. That holding directory is /porteus/optional.

Also the common "layperson -1/4 geek" (me) should be reminded of the effect a sizeable package/module may have on the system.

This then brings up another quandry, how does the user learn/remember/know how to move a package from "optional" to "modules" and Activate it? We know, but is there some easy way to learn them how to do it :-)

Just thinkin,

Sean

[francois]

Sean:
You know the fella that did the review perhaps was in a hurry or something

This is clear. Maybe he should have read wikipedia on porteus or our first faq about What is porteus? But sadly even if he had done that it seems that the first is outdated and the second does not put in evidence on of the most genuine characteristic of porteus: the modules.

Most of his discussion is positive. He has some difficulties with usm but does not have the time to understand what is going on. Then surprisingly he concludes that the porteus distribution is somewhat weak:
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue ... 08#feature
Were I to evaluate Porteus as a general purpose operating system the distribution would fail to gain good marks in most areas. Porteus does not play well with USB thumb drives, the installer really doesn't give us much flexibility, we are given one default user account, no practical security and no meaningful way to acquire additional software.

I use porteus as my main distribution. The only limit of porteus is that it is based on slackware (less software pasture), but the good news is that it has also its stenghts: its efficient and solid.

[brokenman]

http://sourceforge.net/blog/projects-of ... r-15-2014/

[francois]

there should be a probe about activating the modules

Ok so if I understand correctly, the popup window asking if the user wants to 'open' the storage folder should instead be ... "Would you like to activate/install the downloaded packages?"

I have the impression that this would exactly do the job.

How about the other observers?

[Bogomips]

1. Code: Select all

   root@porteus:/home/guest# usm -v
    You are using USM version:  3.1.6
   root@porteus:/home/guest# usm -i libxt
   
    The following items were found.
    Choose an number to confirm. 
    ctrl+c to quit
   
   1) libXt-1.1.4-i486-1.txz
   2) libXtst-1.2.2-i486-1.txz
   #? 2
   

   Found "Choose an number to confirm." somewhat confusing. Looked like it was going to enter a download phase. Less confusing would have been "Choose an number to view.", for example.

2. Code: Select all

   root@porteus:/home/guest# usm -s libcl
   
   Nothing was found in Slackware but i found this in slackbuilds.
   
   NAME :  libcli 
   CATEG: libraries
   DESC : libcli (cisco style telnet commandline interface library)
   VERS : 1.9.4
   
    Would you like to attempt to build this from source? [y/n]

   Source of Confusion?
   

   Code: Select all

   OpenCL library and ICD loader from NVIDIA.
   
   Packager: Felix Yan <felixonmars@gmail.com>. License: custom
   
   Binary package:
   
   libcl-1.1-4-i686.pkg.tar.xz
   

   libcl-1.1-4-i686.pkg.tar.xz was sought for package. Suppose it's a difficult decision to decide whether to present libcl?, but in this case one could very well have gone ahead and built the wrong package.

[Ed_P]

A USM suggestion.

I recently used the USM Gui to create a module for kpat and when done I clicked on the button to have it open the /tmp/usm/ directory. The /tmp/usm/ window opened and was filled with about 2 dozen files, the dependencies that downloaded, and the single module file in the middle. It took me a moment to see the .xzm file. A newer newbie than I may think that the module wasn't created or that they needed all the dependencies in addition to the actual module.

It might be wise to delete the dependency files after the module is created. Or create a separate directory for the module, /tmp/usm/xzm for example. Thus when a module is created and the Open Folder option is selected there is no confusion as to what file has been created and needs to be moved to the porteus/extramods directory.

[brokenman]

I have the impression that this would exactly do the job.

@Francois
Added option in GUI to install packages instead of opening target folder.

Found "Choose an number to confirm." somewhat confusing. Looked like it was going to enter a download phase.

@ Bogomips
Sorry, I disagree. If you are requesting info (-i) why would one think it is entering a download phase? The label here is a generic CLI menu so it is the same label for whatever calls it. Changing it for one (-i) could make it confusing for another (-g) so I will stick with the generic label for now.

It might be wise to delete the dependency files after the module is created.

@Ed_P
This is not viable in the case where one wants to manage packages. Deleting the slackware package means it will need to be redownloaded next time it is required as a dependency. I think leaving deletion of files to the user is the best idea.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Ed_P]

It might be wise to delete the dependency files after the module is created.

@Ed_P
This is not viable in the case where one wants to manage packages. Deleting the slackware package means it will need to be redownloaded next time it is required as a dependency.

I don't understand. If a package is added to a module why would it need to be added to a different module? If it's active in one isn't it available to other modules? And once the module is created when the system is rebooted these /tmp/usm packages are all deleted.

[brokenman]

If a package is added to a module why would it need to be added to a different module?

Yes, but this assumes one is moving the package to the modules folder and actually WANTS them activated at every boot. Some people may prefer to activate on demand and in this case may even prefer bundles.

And once the module is created when the system is rebooted these /tmp/usm packages are all deleted.

Assuming one does not use changes.

[Ed_P]

And once the module is created when the system is rebooted these /tmp/usm packages are all deleted.

Assuming one does not use changes.

changes=EXIT does not save the /tmp/ directory.

[fanthom]

/tmp folder should be used for storing of temporary files.
if USM files supposed to be persistent then i would consider placing them in /usr/share/usm or even /opt/usm.

[Ed_P]

Ideally, if a user selects the USM option to have the downloaded packages made into a module the module could be placed in the user's extramod directory, either by default or as an option. That would eliminate the user having to find it amongst all the dependencies.

[brokenman]

the module could be placed in the user's extramod directory, either by default or as an option.

USM has no way of knowing the location of your extramods directory. It could be anywhere. User can just as easily use extramod= to point to their USM storage.