[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] maemo weekly news anyone?

[From: Antonio Orlando]

>   Just my two cents.

Thanks Larry, cents appreciated. I must admit still I'm not convinced of  
the evilness of the approach I hoped could be followed, regardless of what  
you've kindly illustrated. What explained is right, if the new installed  
OS works somehow differently from the old one; so, if I can interpret your  
words, we users don't know how different the OS after upgrade is, so we  
cannot be sure that everything will work as before after an "easy restore"  
(let's call "easy restore" the alternative method proposed in my question,  
and "normal restore" the plain install-all-again way).

But: what if the system is reflashed with the very same OS? Would an "easy  
restore" work? I do not ask this because I have interest in reflashing a  
working system with the same firmware, but because the answer can help me  
better understand the issue.

If the answer is "no", than I'll understand there are problems beyond what  
I'm considering with my poor knowledge of Linux, and I'll sadly force me  
to do a "normal restore", if I'll decide to upgrade.

If the answer is "yes", than I'll understand that differences in the new  
firmware from the old one *could* prevent the "easy restore" method from  
working as hoped. In this case, the firmware developers could try  
answering to the question: ''is the (current) new firmware different from  
the previous one enough to prevent the "easy restore" method from working  
as hoped?''; and they should provide this information for each eventual  
new firmware release, so to let users know if the "easy restore" method is  
feasible for that particular upgrade.

> I would advocate a high-level approach to
> the problem, tracking the installs (and repository additions) done by
> the user with the install tool.  After an upgrade the installer tool
> could have an option to try and reinstall the applications they had
> formerly installed.  Successful installations could be "checked-off"
> the list of applications to install, failures marked as such.

This is a good idea for me too, and at this regard, again, I'm still  
waiting for a reply to my previous answer about the opportunity of  
recommending to developers of apps for the 770 the use of the Zero Install  
system, and a good application manager managing stuff like proposed  
(merging mine and your proposals):

http://maemo.org/pipermail/maemo-developers/2006-November/006158.html

PS: Please note when I say "I'm still waiting for a reply" does not imply  
"I want a reply and I want it now!"... I just want to make sure some  
questions I care lay not hidden under tons of stuff, and let them emerge a  
bit - like a personal "Komulainen-like-Unresolved-issues" post :)

-- 
Antonio