ipkg wish-list

Russ,

Good ideas. Much of what you want is already available today.

ipkg can already install packages to other locations than /, (see
dest parameter in /etc/ipkg.conf as well as the -d option to ipkg).

Also, ipkg exports the PKG_ROOT environment variable so that package
postinst scripts can do some fixups, (of symlinks and such), if
necessary.

It's not actually necessary to make a symlink to every file that gets
installed to the external file system. Many packages will work as long
as things like PATH and /etc/ld.so.conf are aware of the external
location, (/mnt/ramfs, /mnt/hda, etc.).

I have thought of supporting a new control file, (perhaps named
absolute_paths?), that would create symlinks for those files which
must be in a hard-coded locations, (ie. /etc/foo.conf). The symlink
creation would be smart in a similar manner to the stow program,
(creating links to entire directories rather than individual files
whenever possible). If someone could find, (or cares to write), a
/bin/sh or C version of stow, that would be a big help.

You are right that packages installed to /mnt/ramfs could use some
special treatment by ipkg.

-Carl

Russ Nelson writes:
> I wish that ipkg had the ability to say "install this package's files
> under /mnt/ramfs instead of /, and for each of those files install
> symlinks to /mnt/ramfs in /, except for configuration files, which
> should go in /". See, I used to have an iPAQ with 32/32, and I felt
> like I had plenty of space. Now I've got a 64/16 iPAQ, which feels
> really cramped but actually has more storage.
>
> Repeat the above paragraph with s/ramfs/hda/g , cuz some people will
> want to do the same thing using a CF card or Microdrive.
>
> Okay, and then when ipkg can do that, it also needs a "reload all the
> packages that were installed in ramfs which are now gone because you
> rebooted, only keep the configuration files without whinging." :-)
>
> --
> -russ nelson <sig.a.t.russnelson.com> http://russnelson.com
> Crynwr sells support for free software | PGPok |
> 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | #exclude <windows.h>
> Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX |
> _______________________________________________
> Familiar mailing list
> Familiar@handhelds.org
> http://handhelds.org/mailman/listinfo/familiar
> irc://irc.openprojects.net #familiar
>
Received on Wed Aug 1 13:31:03 2001