Re: [Mingw-users] mingw-get feedback

[Keith M. <kei...@us...>]

On Friday 07 May 2010 22:35:32 Roger Pack wrote:
> The README requested feedback to the mailing list [1], so here
> goes...

Thanks!

> I wanted to use mingw-get to write up a "mingw ports" script for
> installing libxml in a somewhat automated fashion.  It appears
> that currently it only allows for hard-coded installations?

Not at all.  Even with alpha-1, (which I guess is what you are 
using), you could hack the provided package-index.xml file to add 
anything you wanted -- at first run, that is downloaded from the 
web-hosted repository, cached in $MINGWROOT/var/lib/mingw-get/data,
and subsequently then only updated when you run `mingw-get update', 
(and then only if the issue attribute in the XML root element is 
incremented wrt the cached copy).

Alternatively, you should [*] be able to add an extra repository, 
hosted on a server under your own control, (perhaps on localhost), 
and source your own rp-package-list.xml.lzma from there, (or just 
declare it within the repository spec, and drop the corresponding 
rp-package-list.xml into $MINGWROOT/var/lib/mingw-get/data).

[*] I say should, because I haven't actually tested the multiple 
concurrent repository capability yet; must do that.

>  Anyway I can help push it along in that direction?
> (user-contributable, etc).

You might review the recent discussions in the mingw-dvlpr list 
archives, and then consider submitting appropriate XML package 
descriptions via the patch tracker.  Alpha-2, which I hope to get 
out within the next week, will provide more flexible handling of the 
XML sources.

> For more feedback, there are a few rough edges,

Sure; it is still alpha code, after all.

> like having to edit the profile.xml file by hand.

Well, we old Unix hands actually prefer it that way; it is way more 
reliable than allowing the machine to screw up with some heuristic 
(== broken by design) auto-detection algorithm...

> A "--bootstrap" command might 
> work well, for example search the path for locations that "look"
> like msys and mingw directories

...but something like this could, perhaps, be considered at a later 
stage in the development cycle.

-- 
Regards,
Keith.