Re: packaging system

[David Bateman]

Stefan van der Walt wrote:

> I like your idea.  Wouldn't it be easier to implement it as some sort
> of tree structure, instead of a flat one?  Unfortunately, we don't
> have python's dictionaries, but maybe we can do something similar in
> Octave like
>
> function [value, idx] = search(dict, key)
>    value = [];
>    for idx = 1:rows(dict)
>         if strcmp(dict(idx,1), key)
>             value = dict{idx,2};
>             return;
>         endif
>    endfor
>    idx = 0;
> endfunction
>
> function d = dict(d, key, new_value)
>    if (nargin == 0)
>         d = cell(0,2);
>         return
>    endif
>
>    [value, idx] = search(d, key);
>    if (idx == 0)
>         idx = rows(d)+1;
>    endif
>    
>    d(idx, 1) = key;
>    d(idx, 2) = new_value;
>    
> endfunction
>
>  
Which dict is which? You use dict as a function and a variable.... Do we 
need the complexity of a tree structure for dependency check. I thought 
the interest of that was to reduce the amount of work required in 
checking the dependencies. This makes sense in a linux distribution with 
a large number of installed packages, but will octave really ever have 
more than a 100 or so packages installed at any time. So the flat 
structure might be easier to get running and maintained initially.

In any case, its an internal implementation issue of how the full 
dependency table is kept. If we run into performance problems, we can 
always switch to a dependency tree in the future with no visible effect 
on the user as long as the DESCRIPTION file format supports it..

Cheers
David

>  
>
> > then have three other function, one to remove a package, one to add a 
> > package to the table and another to validate the dependency table,
> > like
> >    
>
> ...
>
>  
>
> > Ok, none of the above code is checked as I wrote it straight into my 
> > e-mail client, but at least it gives an idea of what I'm thinking 
> > about.. Including allowing cell-arrays to install/uninstall, it 
> > addresses the issues of circular dependencies and dependencies on 
> > uninstalling...
> >    
>
> Fortunately, the inmind-Octave-parser is pretty flexible :)
>
> Regards
> Stéfan
>
>  


--
David Bateman                                address@hidden
Motorola Labs - Paris                        +33 1 69 35 48 04 (Ph) 
Parc Les Algorithmes, Commune de St Aubin    +33 1 69 35 77 01 (Fax) 
91193 Gif-Sur-Yvette FRANCE

The information contained in this communication has been classified as: 

[x] General Business Information 
[ ] Motorola Internal Use Only 
[ ] Motorola Confidential Proprietary