Re: [OctDev] Re: Octave-dev digest, Vol 1 #142 - 1 msg

[<pki...@us...>]

I presume you mean my CPAN equivalent site.

Source-forge itself is sufficient for distribution.  Just drop the
packages into the html directory, rebuild the index and serve
the pages statically.  I do it right now with the categorical
index.

For now we can forego automation and update the packages by
hand.  It would mean either giving each upstream author a
source-forge account and trusting them not to do damage,
(someone other than me is mirroring the source-forge daily
snapshot CVS tarball, right?), or creating an octave-package
list where they can e-mail packages and someone who already
has access can package things.

Packages will need to have a standard format, so that standard
tools can install the package on the system.  This is the hard
part.  I have not looked in detail at other packaging systems,
so I can't give you any suggestions, other than to keep it as 
simple as possible, but no simpler.

Some possible goals:

	* simple download and install --- may require that the user
	first install the install tools; must distinguish user and system
	installs.
	* tinderboxes to automatically test on different architectures
	and against new releases of Octave --- automatic notification
	to authors if the package fails.
	* prebuilt binaries for some architectures --- a few blessed
	tinderboxen can package and checksum their builds.
	* simple upgrade process --- when you reinstall octave you
	don't want to reselect all your packages by hand.
	* unified documentation system so the user can find out
	what packages are available and what they contain ---
	available online so you don't have to install the package to
	learn if you need it.
	* demos so that package capabilities are easier to assess.
	* per-package communication features --- bug and patch
	tracking, threaded discussion group all with e-mail gateway.
	* package categories --- the space of matlab add-ons is huge
	so a flat package list will quickly become unwieldy; expect
	the tree to change as the archive grows; allow for links in
	multiple categories.
	* support for Octave and Matlab from the same source
	build --- this will require an octave->matlab translator (I wrote
	one years ago which is still around somewhere) for source
	packages.

matlinks.net tried to do some of these things a number of years ago.

I think there are three keys to success: (1) make it easy to
find and assess packages, (2) make it easy to install and 
upgrade packages, and (3) have a large base of seed packages 
so that it is the obvious place to look  when you need 
something.  Once (1) and (2) are done, we will have to canvas 
the existing matlab package authors for permission to host 
their packages at our site, and be willing  to put in some effort 
into wrapping their packages for them.

You tell me what we can simplify.

Paul Kienzle
pki...@us...

On 20 Nov 2003 at 19:15, ta...@lb... wrote:

> I'm more than happy to work on such a site, but I don't have any
> facilities to do so. I guess I could rig up something here at my lab,
> but if it starts to get many hits a day, my boss might have to speak
> with me... :-)
> 
> I guess at that point we could switch to bevo.che.wisc.edu, or some
> other box?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> ~Tomer
> 
> 
> 
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