Jason Gunthorpe wrote: > >On Tue, 19 May 1998, Oliver Elphick wrote: > >> I'm sure there are a lot of problems I haven't thought of; if the whole >> thing is impractical, tell me now! On the other hand, if it can be fully >> worked out, all packages should use it to do interactive queries on >> installation. > >Just off hand, I don't think this provides enough room for future growth. >It would be nicer if your script could handle the format the COAS uses >instead of creating a new incompatible format. This would help us migrate >to a COAS like tool. > >If COAS is truely what it claims the implementing a program to pull >information from the database for use in a script should be fairly >simple..
Well, having looked at COAS, it seems not to dictate any particular data format; it has to cope with a large number of independently developed packages, each with its own format. To add a new one means writing a module which plugs into COAS to handle the new package. Once COAS is available, this can easily be done. However, I'm not sure if COAS is a viable option for something that must be present with the base system - it requires Python and the Qt library - and as long as it depends on Qt, we can't include it in main. There was talk of using gtk instead, but I don't know what has come of it. ===== I have found another package, in experimental, that addresses the same issues that I was attempting to address. It is dtxtdb. It does not, though, allow the questions to be held in the database, which seems to me to be a desirable thing -- for a start, it would make internationalisation of scripts far easier. On the other hand, it has some other features that look desirable. ===== Whichever package is chosen, I think that this is an issue that ought to be addressed soon and it is an important policy issue, because the use of such a tool ought to be required. -- Oliver Elphick [EMAIL PROTECTED] Isle of Wight http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver PGP key from public servers; key ID 32B8FAA1 ======================================== "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." I Corinthians 2:9 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
