Re: pkgsrc support to PackageKit

[David Sainty <dave%dtsp.co.nz@localhost>]

On Mon, 2011-04-25 at 19:05 +0200, Sylvain Mora wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Unfortunately I failed my Gsoc by missing the deadline. But I'm motivated for 
> doing the project anyway.
> 
> The Thread where we spoke about the project :
> 
> http://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-pkg/2011/03/27/msg006874.html
> 
> In summary, the final goal is to write a backend for PackageKit which 
> communicate with pkgsrc and make the possibility to use pkgsrc throw 
> PackageKit.
> PackageKit is an abstract layer for package manager. Its goal is to unify all 
> package manager (GUI or CLI).
> It uses "backends" for communicate with the package manager. The backend 
> matchs PackageKit commands and package manager functions.
> 
> To make easier the backend writing, I want to write a basic API for pkgsrc.
> This API will reproduce the essentials of pkgsrc operations and some useful 
> features like listings of available/installed/outdated packages, security 
> information etc
> 
> For now main outstanding questions are :
> 
> - The API's language. 
> In first I choose Python but jmmv said that it could be better to write the 
> API in C for using it directly in the system.
> It's not a problem for me to use C, but I will be faster in Python.

If your goal is to build something that is of general use it seems like
Python isn't an awfully practical choice for NetBSD.  Python is
installed via Pkgsrc on NetBSD if and only if required, meaning your API
will be unusable until Pkgsrc is well and truly up and running.

(If your goal is PackageKit only, and if PackageKit somehow already
implies Python then that might change the equation a bit...)