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GLEP: 50
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Title: Supporting alternative package managers
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Version: $Revision: 1.3 $
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Last-Modified: $Date: 2005/11/13 17:16:50 $
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Author: Grant Goodyear <g2boojum@gentoo.org>
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Status: Draft
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Type: Standards Track
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Content-Type: text/x-rst
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Created: 22-May-2006
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Post-History: 15-Jun-2006
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Abstract
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========
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To support alternatives to the official package manager (portage, at the time
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of this writing), some sane ground rules need to be set. Specifically, no
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alternative ebuild-based package manager may be added to the tree unless it
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successfully works with all ebuilds supported by the official package manager.
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Moreover, no ebuilds may be added to the tree unless they are supported
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(without change) by the official package manager.
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Specification
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=============
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* No alternative ebuild-based package manager may be added
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to the tree unless it successfully works with all ebuilds supported by
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the official package manager. If an alternative package manager is
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runtime incompatible with the official package manager, then it
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must be masked and provide appropriate warnings.
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* No ebuilds may be added to the tree unless they are supported
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(without change) by the official package manager.
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Rationale
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=========
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The first rule sets a reasonable bar for adding an alternative package
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manager to the tree. Note that if an ebuild currently in the tree
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doesn't work with the official package manager, it isn't expected to
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work with an alternative package manager either. The second rule
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ensures that an alternative package manager cannot become a de-facto
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requirement by supporting packages that the official package manager
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cannot handle.
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In order to keep this proposal as simple and focused as possible, it has
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nothing to say about the process by which an alternative package manager
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might one day become the official package manager. It is assumed that
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sanity will reign, and no package manager will become official without
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being able to build installation media, providing a transition path from
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or to the existing official package manager, etcetera.
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Note
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====
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An early criticism of this GLEP was that it fails to address eclasses and
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profiles. As far as eclasses are concerned, my view is that the above rules
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suffice, since eclasses only matter in their use in ebuilds. If a package
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manager can effectively process all ebuilds, then it must be handling the
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eclasses successfully, too. Profiles, on the other hand, are not addressed
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here even implicitly.
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Backwards Compatibility
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=======================
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Pretty much the whole point, and it's explicit here.
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Copyright
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=========
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This document has been placed in the public domain.
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