Re: Package management with cfengine

[Luke A. Kanies]

On Fri, 7 Nov 2003, skaar wrote:

> * Luke A. Kanies (luke@madstop.com) [031107 14:07]:
> > Is anyone doing something like this right now?  I specifically, definitely
> > want to specify the packages to be installed within cfengine; I don't want
> > an external file that does it or whatever.
>
> what about using cfengine to maintain an external file of packages, such
> as:
>
>   /etc/packages.allow
>   /etc/packages.deny
>   /etc/packages.update
>
> and then have your module read this, only to make the decision if
> something needs to be done, and finally call (possibly the same script
> as the module with different arguments) from shellcommands. This way
> both the data and the logic is showed inside the cfengine framework.

I've done that kind of work within isconf, and it got pretty confusing
pretty quickly.  Admittedly, it was pretty different because of the
difference in tools, but...

But one of the big things I'd like to do is have cfengine do as much of
the work as possible.  Why have a package manager run a script, only to
have cfengine try to maintain the results in a completely different
language?  I'd like each package to come with a cfengine script that
essentially installed the package and then could be used to guarantee that
the package was functional for the life of the package install.  Oh, and I
want it to support the installation of multiple versions at once (so I can
upgrade things like cfengine far more easily).  And I want it to be easy
enough for most/any admins to use.

I'd be interested in seeing how you actually do this, because
implementation can make a big difference, but at this point I'm mostly
experimenting.  I've had some success so far, but (of course) cannot
release anything because of my current client.  Maybe the next iteration,
though...

Luke

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