I added a section with milestones. See attached diff. Comments are
welcome. Please keep in mind that this is a rough sketch which might be
imperfect, because I didn't really think too long about it, and just
wrote it down.
--
Fabian Groffen
Gentoo for Mac OS X Project -- Interim Lead
--- targets.xml
+++ targets.xml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
<license/>
<version>1.0</version>
- <date>2005-12-11</date>
+ <date>2005-12-15</date>
<chapter>
<title>Targets</title>
@@ -294,7 +294,9 @@
implements the "Gentoo for Mac OS X" route. This route has
proven to be unsuitable for Mac OS X, as the OS itself becomes
a too big limitation for Portage to sucessfully emerge many
- packages. Hence, another direction is necessary.
+ packages, if one is not willing to overwrite packages, as in
+ the progressive profile. Since many people prefer not to
+ touch the OS provided files, another direction is necessary.
</p>
<p>
@@ -302,7 +304,9 @@
made, and because it is a rather big difference from a regular
Mac OS X system, it was chosen to change the direction towards
"Gentoo Portage for Mac OS X", to enable Gentoo's Mac OS X
- project to continue and innovate again.
+ project to continue and innovate again. The prefixed location
+ will avoid collissions, hence allowing many more packages to
+ install.
</p>
<p>
@@ -316,15 +320,15 @@
<p>
The Gentoo for Mac OS X installer that floats around the net
currently is old and contains many bugs. It has been removed
- from the official project pages, because use of it is no
+ from the official project pages, because the use of it is no
longer being supported. We hope to release an updated
installer to fill in this gap.
</p>
</body>
</section><!-- }}} -->
- <section><!-- {{{ Progress -->
- <title>Progress</title>
+ <section><!-- {{{ Current Status -->
+ <title>Current Status</title>
<body>
<p>
Because "Gentoo Portage for Mac OS X" requires Portage to be
@@ -350,12 +354,87 @@
ebuild modifications that are not backwards compatible,
applications are currently ported in an overlay. This overlay
currently contains applications like perl, python, apple-gcc,
- vim, sed, awk, find, etc. A full base install is covered
- based on ebuild in the Gentoo Portage tree.
+ vim, sed, awk, find, etc. A full base install is covered,
+ based on ebuilds in the Gentoo Portage tree.
</p>
</body>
</section><!-- }}} -->
+ <section><!-- {{{ Milestones -->
+ <title>Milestones</title>
+ <body>
+ <p>
+ A few key points on the road towards implementation of Gentoo
+ Portage for Mac OS X can be indentified. These milestones are
+ as follows:
+ </p>
+
+ <ol>
+ <li>
+ <b>Portage Prefix Support</b> - partial done<br />
+ In order to start doing anything, Portage has to be changed
+ to support prefixed installs. This is a large and
+ non-trivial change that takes both time and lots of testing.
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <b>Prefix-aware Portage Tree</b> - limited core done<br />
+ A Portage with prefix support, needs prefix-aware ebuilds,
+ just like a diesel engine doesn't run with gasoline.
+ Because the aims are for minimal changes to the Gentoo tree,
+ it should be a trivial task to convert ebuilds from the live
+ tree into something suitable for Portage with prefix
+ support. Many more complicated packages, however, need
+ special treatments in order to recognise the prefix they
+ should install in correctly. Ebuilds that have been
+ ported are put in the prefix overlay. This overlay should
+ at minimal contain 20-30% of the live tree in order to be
+ considered as representative sample.
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <b>Utilise Prefix-aware Portage</b><br />
+ Although the previous milestones implicitly require the
+ product to be used, this milestone is here to explicitly
+ require the prefix-aware portage to be used. This does not
+ solely mean for OS X systems only, but also for Linux
+ systems or any other party that would like to join in this
+ development. It is very important to have a few use cases,
+ in order to underline the fact that a prefix-aware portage
+ isn't just an OS X thing. This milestone forms funding for
+ the next.
+ <li>
+ <b>Make Prefix Aware Portage Mainline Product</b><br />
+ This step will require a lot of efforts in the form of a
+ Gentoo Linux Enhancement Proposal (GLEP), but is a very
+ critical step in the whole path to get the changes made
+ accepted by the Gentoo community as a whole. The changes
+ required for prefix-aware portage are everything but
+ trivial, and hence need approval by the community at large.
+ At this stage it helps to have several use cases, a fair
+ share of the Gentoo Portage tree converted and some really
+ strong armour. This step won't be easy, and will require a
+ lot of efforts in writing the GLEP. However, only if the
+ GLEP will be accepted, we can move on to the next milestone.
+ In case of a reject, we are outlaws.
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <b>Make Gentoo Portage Tree Prefix-aware</b><br />
+ A logical conclusion of the accepted GLEP is to get the full
+ tree ported to the prefix-aware format. Since the GLEP is
+ accepted, this might be done with some help from others to
+ speed up the process. Again this task is non-trivial, since
+ updates occur all the time on the live tree, and they need
+ to be reflected in the new tree somehow.
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <b>Roll Out Prefix-aware Portage</b><br />
+ This is not our job, but it is the end of this road. In
+ order to be able to use the features of the tree, a capable
+ Portage has to be made the mainline product.
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+ </body>
+ </section><!-- }}} -->
+
</chapter>
</guide>
