Resending the mail cause, previous mail was not sent to mailing list. On Wed, Mar 27, 2019 at 2:10 PM Mojca Miklavec <mo...@macports.org> wrote:
> Dear Karan, > > I'm just answering a small part of your question here, a bit more about > upt while CC-ing its author & potential mentor: > > On Tue, 26 Mar 2019 at 18:15, KARAN SHETH <karan.sh...@somaiya.edu> wrote: > >> >> >>> (Another option for a project in Python would be bringing universal >>> packaging tool [1] to MacPorts.) >>> >> >> I looked in to this option and it looks very exciting, this is what I >> have understood so far about bringing upt to MacPorts : >> - A UPT-Frontend and Backend will have to be created for macports. >> > > No, MacPorts in itself requires writing just a backend to support creating > packages for existing frontends (currently there are frontends for pypi, > ruby gems, cpan), but you usually need a separate backend for each of the > frontends. However, it would be great to maybe create new frontends for > npm, cabal, ... (npm would be particularly helpful). And if working on that > project, it would make sense to concentrate on at least one frontend (ruby > gems, npm, or something else) and try to make some awesome improvement of > our packages. Our ruby packages are so outdated that they are literally > useless, haskell support is horribly lagging behind as so much manual work > is needed (we would like to provide the latest version of pandoc), and npm > support is basically non-existent. > > The work would most likely include doing various improvements to UPT > itself. In particular, the biggest problem would be how to keep packages > up-to-date after the initial creation. We currently have 1000+ perl > packages, plenty of python packages etc. and it's a pain to keep them up to > date. When packages change, new dependencies are added, and none of that is > currently automated. The current version of UPT support creating the inial > version of the package, but there is no mechanism in place yet to keep > package updated afterwards (incorporating other changes you might have made > to the Portfile itself). > > >> So the Frontend will take the Portfile from macports and convert it using >> UPT. >> > > No, the frontend would take a package from pypi / cpan / ruby gems / npm / > ... and generate a Portfile. > > >> But my doubt is, what is the UPT-Backend in this case, I know it should >> be MacOS but like in the example given on UPT repo its converts json from >> PYPI into Guix Pxg Definition. >> So same way, what would UPT do in case of Macports? >> > > Generate a Portfile > > >> I may be completely wrong here as I have no prior knowledge about UPT. >> > > You aren't expected to have any prior knowledge about it. It's relatively > new, currently one-person project, but we had quite some GSOC projects in > the part to do various conversion from X to Portfiles (from pypi, cpan), > and supporting such a project would solve a lot more packaging nightmares > all at once. > > This is some example code that was cooked together in cca. two hours: > https://github.com/mojca/upt-macports > > I would need to add some documentation, but once you set it up, the > command like > upt package -f pypi -b macports upt > would create a MacPorts package for the "upt" package (that's the last > argument) as fetched from pypi (frontend pypi, backend macports, package > upt). > > >> Now seeing that I have two choices - first to continue making the django >> app or to make upt, I will first look into UPT after my doubts raised above >> have been clarified and then decide which route to take. >> > > The choice is yours, you can also submit two proposals, but it makes most > sense to really create one awesome proposal rather than trying to submit > three, none of which you had a substantial time to do properly. (Or make > one really awesome proposal, and a backup one.) If more than one student > applies for the same project, we can only select one, but it really makes > most sense to apply for the one that you are most likely to shine in. > > If you plan to apply for this project, what you might want to look into is > approximately the following: > - get familiar with cpan2port & pypi2port to generate perl and python > packages (install it via macports, figure out how to use it, try to create > a package, take a glimpse at the source code) > - figure out how to create and / or modify perl / python / ruby / ... > packages > - get familiar with using "port livecheck", maybe find some outdated > package that you are using and try to update it (if your interest is in > python, search for ports inside "python") > - try to install UPT (maybe via virtualenv & pip) and find out how to > generate a package with an existing backend (the macports backend on the > link above should also be able to generate super simplified python > packages, but it's not yet complete) > - you could check https://trac.macports.org/ticket/48324 / > https://lists.macports.org/pipermail/macports-dev/2018-March/037531.html just > to get an idea about haskell issues and lack of automation there > I looked into all that you had mentioned and gave a good thought about which project to work on, and even though I am good at django and JS, I would like to work on UPT as my main project as this seems more exciting to me and I feel it can help many people and will speed up the porting process (and if time permits, I will prepare a demo app for the Collect Build stats too). But first I'll try and make a rough npm frontend. And regarding the backend, I tried running your macport backend but got a few errors which I was able to kind of solve but now that I understand a bit more I guess I'll give it one more try and fix any issues. So, I am hoping that I have a rough code for the npm frontend and macport backend ready in a day or at max two, which I will submit to you for review. This is what I have thought to do : - For npm frontend: - get the json for any package from https://registry.npmjs.org/<package-name> - parse it as per upt-frontend template - For macport backend: - First I will fix the issues with the Pypi code and then add npm to it Given all what I have tried out, I expect everything to go smoothly but if I have any doubt's, I will get in touch. I've also read about port livecheck but haven't tried it yet. One concern/doubt I have is - does the Portfile generated always have to be correct as I don't think that's achievable given the complexity sometimes, but sure upt can be a starting point and with few manual edits Portfile can be perfected. Did I miss something or get anything wrong? I just quickly listed some task, feel free to ask for help at any given > point. For any questions specific to UPT I count on Cyril to help you. > Michael: may I count on you for help with any general port-related > questions? > > I didn't write anything about Django app in particular as you'll find tons > of information in the mailing list archives, so please ask if you have any > particular question there. > > Mojca > > Thanks, Karan Sheth -- <https://www.somaiya.edu> <http://www.somaiya-ayurvihar.org> <http://nareshwadi.org> <http://somaiya.com> <http://www.helpachild.in> <http://nareshwadi.org>
