[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] The future of the Application installer

[From: Marius Vollmer]

"ext Koen Kooi" <koen at handhelds.org> writes:

> I like the idea of extra software being in /var/lib/install so it can't
> mess up the rootfs is something goes wrongs.

Hmm.  That is something I have been thinking about, but it would
require changes to the way dpkg etc work, no?

The cleanest way to get this would probably be to add an option to
dpkg that would make it perform the unpacking and configuring of
packages as a specified user (instead of as root).  I think I would
still have it update the package database as root since anything else
seems to require too big changes.

> What I really would like to have is the ability to use apt sources from
> the GUI so I can click 'update' to update maemo components.

That will be possible (unless someone stops me...).  You should be
able to edit the sources list from the GUI.  (And if not, you can edit
/etc/apt.sources.list by hand.)

> The same goes for the ability to install a newer version of a
> package without having to remove it first (as is the case now).

Yes, definitely.  The reason for not allowing this with the current
Application installer is actually just to prevent the situation where
an upgrade fails and you end up with a broken system.  When a fresh
installation fails, the odds are high that you can just remove the
half-installed package and be happy again.  The new Applikation
installer should be powerful enough to deal with a failed upgrade.