> On 01/ 5/10 06:12 AM, andrew wrote: > >> > >> On Jan 3, 2010, at 6:53 AM, andrew wrote: > >> > >>>> On 01/ 1/10 10:36 AM, andrew wrote: > >>>>> Sorry - my mistake. Still looking for ability > to > >>>> install from local files though. ;-) > >>>> > >>>> You can do that now as long as you're willing to > >> run > >>>> a depot server > >>>> (which is a very light-weight easy to start/run > >>>> process). > >>>> > >>>> However, if you're wanting to install "from > files" > >>>> without running a > >>>> depot server, that's still work in progress. > >>> > >>> Thanks for the info. However, I am still > surprised > >> that there is no ability to install from local > files > >> as we approach for 4th release. On the face of it, > it > >> would seem an easy thing to add. I guess if I > really > >> needed it I could add it myself. > >>> > >> > >> It isn't as trivial to add it as it might seem at > >> first glance, which is why it didn't get done for > >> this release. It was originally planned, but > there > >> has simply been been too much else needed for this > >> release (2010.x). There was significant > foundational > >> or higher priority work that had to be done first. > >> > >> The pkg(5) project is now at a point where new > >> subsystems require significant planning and > analysis. > >> An on-disk format is something that once added has > >> to remain relatively stable. As such, any formal > >> introduction of it has been purposefully delayed > to > >> ensure that there is as little pain as possible. > >> Please remember that the needs of the pkg(5) > system > >> are primarily driven by what is required to > deliver > >> OpenSolaris and the project is still in the > process > >> of addressing user needs. > > > > I haven't looked at the code but I was kind of > assuming that I wouldn't need to implement an on-disk > format - just replace code to suck files off the > network with code to fetch them off disk. However, I > have absolutely no knowledge of how any of it > actually works. ;-) > > > > Thank you for the clarification about what stage > the development of IPS is at. > > > > I will just add that we have built experimental media > that included a > repository and hacked up an installer that could > install from that > repository. The performance was not usable (6+ hour > install times, as I > recall), because the performance of random access to > files (which is > what happens in reading from the repository) on > stream-oriented media > like DVD's is hideously bad.
That's interesting - I guess you do need an on-disk format for that. There are two obvious use cases for a file-based package: 1 is to do an OS install, the other is to just add packages to a system after you download them. It is sometimes quicker to download a tarbar and install it than it is to use pkg to suck each seperate file over the network. The obvious example is the SUNWman package. Cheers Andrew. -- This message posted from opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
