Activity Team/Packaging Ideas: Difference between revisions

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= Goal =

<noinclude>{{GoogleTrans-en}}</noinclude>

Installing activities on every sugarized GNU/Linux distribution (not only XO)

just by clicking on icon in ~~addons~~.sugarlabs.org.

== Goal ==

Installing activities on every sugarized GNU/Linux distribution (not only the XO)

just by clicking on an icon in activities.sugarlabs.org is the goal.

= Problems to solve =

== Problems to solve ==

* Install proper dependencies. Most activities rely on a standard set of Sugar dependencies like PyGTK, Squeak, GStreamer, and PyGame. But others have special dependencies ~~which~~ need to be installed on the target system before the activity can run.

* Install proper dependencies. Most activities rely on a standard set of Sugar dependencies like PyGTK, Squeak, GStreamer, and PyGame. But others have special dependencies that need to be installed on the target system before the activity can run.

* Install the activity itself.

** Blobs in activities. Some activities (Colors, Oficina, Bounce, WikiBrowse) include compiled code, like executables or Python extension modules.

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** And in general, how to treat a variety of platforms: x86, x86_64 and future ARM, MIPS?

= Proposal schemas =

== Proposal schemas ==

== Distro teams should take care of it ==

=== Distro teams should take care of it ===

It could be a meta package ~~which~~ is linked to frequently used dependencies(like csound/pygame/etc).

It could be a meta package that is linked to frequently used dependencies (like csound/pygame/etc.).

Pro

* ~~thats~~ enough for XO [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

* That's enough for the XO [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

* Many activities just rely on the standard Sugar dependencies, it's really just a few special ones.

Contra

* ~~thats~~ not enough for the rest of distros <br> each distro team has to work out the same work <br> like inventing ~~theirs~~ own mechanisms to treat activity dependencies etc. [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

* That's not enough for the rest of the distros <br> each distro team has to work out the same work <br> like inventing their own mechanisms to treat activity dependencies, etc. [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

== Invent-own/reuse-existing packaging format ==

=== Invent-own/reuse-existing packaging format ===

Pro

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* Package managers tend to present confusing user interfaces to the user.

== Sugar is like a Firefox and activities are like addons ==

=== Sugar is like Firefox and activities are like addons ===

Pro

* Simplest version, what we have now.

~~Contra~~

Con

* ~~what~~ about variety of possible dependencies, should we pre-install them all ? [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

* What about the variety of possible dependencies, should we pre-install them all? [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

== Use distro-specific activities installer ==

=== Use distro-specific activities installer ===

This is a kind of [[#Invent-own/reuse-existing packaging format]] packaging format, but it moves the center of gravity to a distro-specific installer from the packaged activity itself.

The activity.info file would include a list of dependency names which come from a predefined list. The distro-specific installer backend would be responsible for parsing the list and installing the correct dependencies.

The activity.info file would include a list of dependency names, which come from a predefined list. The distro-specific installer backend would be responsible for parsing the list and installing the correct dependencies.

Pro

* ~~dependencies~~ in activity could be ~~format~~ in simple way (like 'Require: pygames') and installer should resolve it to proper native package(s); on that way it demands common naming scheme [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

* Dependencies in activity could be formatted in a simple way (like 'Require: pygames'), and the installer should resolve it to the proper native package(s); in that way, it demands a common naming scheme [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Contra

* ~~that~~ says nothing about installing activity itself [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

* That says nothing about installing activity itself. [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

== combined Source+Binary package ==

=== combined Source+Binary package ===

This is a new package format fitted to the special needs of Sugar. Unlike Java (where - at least in theory - compiled bytecode

This is a new package format fitted to the special needs of Sugar. Unlike Java (where--at least in theory--compiled bytecode

suffices), we need to cope with architecture-dependent files.

suffices); we need to cope with architecture-dependent files.

Some of the ideas are already mentioned in other solutions outlined above, but each on its own doesn't solve the whole problem.

Using a whole new format (even if recycling parts of other formats, e.g. the current Bundle format) will require some

Using a whole new format (even if recycling parts of other formats, e.g., the current Bundle format) will require some

engineering, but [[User:Sascha_silbe|I]]MO trying to fit existing formats to ~~our~~ will take nearly as much time near-term and

engineering, but [[User:Sascha_silbe|I]]MO trying to fit existing formats to ours will take nearly as much time near-term, and

cause more trouble long-term. If designed properly, it might even get used as a standard interchange format for other systems.

cause more trouble, long-term. If designed properly, it might even get used as a standard interchange format for other systems.

=== Package contents ===

==== Package contents ====

* metadata (title, author, etc.)

* software dependency information

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* Rainbow security information

=== Software dependencies ===

==== Software dependencies ====

Dependencies are a rather hard problem. We need to ensure that the right package (naming) in exactly the right version

(forward and backwards compatibility), linked against the right libraries (recursive dependencies) ~~with~~ a matching

(forward and backwards compatibility), linked against the right libraries (recursive dependencies) using a matching

ABI (architecture dependency) ~~is used~~.

ABI (architecture dependency).

The easiest way to ensure this is to bundle all dependencies with the Activity. But this might have severe drawbacks:

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* old, buggy versions of libraries might get used (can be quite annoying)

Thus is makes sense to let at least some of the dependencies get handled by the underlying OS. The new bundle format will

Thus, it makes sense to let at least some of the dependencies get handled by the underlying OS. The new bundle format will

contain a dependency tree with the following information for each entry:

* generic package name (usually the name chosen by the original author)

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* source code URL (optional, but recommended)

Part of the installer will be OS-dependent: the generic name needs to be translated to an OS specific one (e.g. according

Part of the installer will be OS-dependent: the generic name needs to be translated to an OS specific one (e.g., according

to Debian Python Policy) and dependencies need to be resolved (e.g. via apt for Debian). If there's ~~internet~~ connectivity,

to Debian Python Policy) and dependencies need to be resolved (e.g., via apt for Debian). If there's Internet connectivity,

it might try to download the source from the given URL (advanced voodoo: check for new versions as well) if no OS package

it might try to download the source from the given URL (advanced voodoo: check for new versions as well), if no OS package

is available.

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required by a lot of Activities). The security implications of this need to be carefully considered, though.

=== Hardware dependencies ===

==== Hardware dependencies ====

Some Activities require special hardware (e.g. sensor module) or are known not to work on certain (sets of) architectures, e.g.

Some Activities require special hardware (e.g., sensor module) or are known not to work on certain (sets of) architectures, e.g.,

because the code is not ~~64bit~~-clean. When trying to install an Activity, it's better to warn the user about this than wasting his/her time

because the code is not 64-bit-clean. When trying to install an Activity, it's better to warn the user about this than wasting his/her time

(but of course with the option to install anyway so it could be adapted to the available hardware).

(but of course, with the option to install anyway, so it could be adapted to the available hardware).

=== Prebuilding ===

==== Prebuilding ====

As building from source might take a significant amount of time, it might be useful (bundle size/build time tradeoff) to

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just ensure that source changes cause a rebuild.

Sites like ~~addons~~.sugarlabs.org might provide several packages, each prebuilt for a different platform (using buildbots) or none at

Sites like activities.sugarlabs.org might provide several packages, each prebuilt for a different platform (using buildbots), or none at

all to reduce download size.

== Sugar Platform ==

=== Sugar Platform ===

Maybe most reasonable decision(at least for 0.84) is declaring "Sugar Platform" ~~like~~ a set of all non-sugar components that activity developers could rely on.

Maybe most reasonable decision (at least for 0.84) is declaring "Sugar Platform" to be a set of all non-sugar components that activity developers could rely on.

[[Category:Activity]]

[[Category:Activity Team]]

[[Category:Idea]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-= Goal =
+<noinclude>{{GoogleTrans-en}}</noinclude>
-Installing activities on every sugarized GNU/Linux distribution (not only XO)
+{{TOCright}}
-just by clicking on icon in addons.sugarlabs.org.
+== Goal ==
+Installing activities on every sugarized GNU/Linux distribution (not only the XO)
+just by clicking on an icon in activities.sugarlabs.org is the goal.
-= Problems to solve =
+== Problems to solve ==
-* Install proper dependencies.  Most activities rely on a standard set of Sugar dependencies like PyGTK, Squeak, GStreamer, and PyGame.  But others have special dependencies which need to be installed on the target system before the activity can run.
+* Install proper dependencies.  Most activities rely on a standard set of Sugar dependencies like PyGTK, Squeak, GStreamer, and PyGame.  But others have special dependencies that need to be installed on the target system before the activity can run.
 * Install the activity itself.
 ** Blobs in activities.  Some activities (Colors, Oficina, Bounce, WikiBrowse) include compiled code, like executables or Python extension modules.
@@ Line 10: / Line 12: @@
 ** And in general, how to treat a variety of platforms: x86, x86_64 and future ARM, MIPS?
-= Proposal schemas =
+== Proposal schemas ==
-== Distro teams should take care of it ==
+=== Distro teams should take care of it ===
-It could be a meta package which is linked to frequently used dependencies(like csound/pygame/etc).
+It could be a meta package that is linked to frequently used dependencies (like csound/pygame/etc.).
 Pro
-* thats enough for XO [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
+* That's enough for the XO [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Many activities just rely on the standard Sugar dependencies, it's really just a few special ones.
 Contra
-* thats not enough for the rest of distros <br> each distro team has to work out the same work <br> like inventing theirs own mechanisms to treat activity dependencies etc. [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
+* That's not enough for the rest of the distros <br> each distro team has to work out the same work <br> like inventing their own mechanisms to treat activity dependencies, etc. [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
-== Invent-own/reuse-existing packaging format ==
+=== Invent-own/reuse-existing packaging format ===
 Pro
@@ Line 33: / Line 35: @@
 * Package managers tend to present confusing user interfaces to the user.
-== Sugar is like a Firefox and activities are like addons ==
+=== Sugar is like Firefox and activities are like addons ===
 Pro
 * Simplest version, what we have now.
-Contra
+Con
-* what about variety of possible dependencies, should we pre-install them all ? [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
+* What about the variety of possible dependencies, should we pre-install them all? [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
-== Use distro-specific activities installer ==
+=== Use distro-specific activities installer ===
 This is a kind of [[#Invent-own/reuse-existing packaging format]] packaging format, but it moves the center of gravity to a distro-specific installer from the packaged activity itself.
-The activity.info file would include a list of dependency names which come from a predefined list.  The distro-specific installer backend would be responsible for parsing the list and installing the correct dependencies.
+The activity.info file would include a list of dependency names, which come from a predefined list.  The distro-specific installer backend would be responsible for parsing the list and installing the correct dependencies.
 Pro
-* dependencies in activity could be format in simple way (like 'Require: pygames') and installer should resolve it to proper native package(s); on that way it demands common naming scheme [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
+* Dependencies in activity could be formatted in a simple way (like 'Require: pygames'), and the installer should resolve it to the proper native package(s); in that way, it demands a common naming scheme [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
 Contra
-* that says nothing about installing activity itself [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
+* That says nothing about installing activity itself. [[User:Alsroot|alsroot]] 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
-== combined Source+Binary package ==
+=== combined Source+Binary package ===
-This is a new package format fitted to the special needs of Sugar. Unlike Java (where - at least in theory - compiled bytecode
+This is a new package format fitted to the special needs of Sugar. Unlike Java (where--at least in theory--compiled bytecode
-suffices), we need to cope with architecture-dependent files.
+suffices); we need to cope with architecture-dependent files.
 Some of the ideas are already mentioned in other solutions outlined above, but each on its own doesn't solve the whole problem.
-Using a whole new format (even if recycling parts of other formats, e.g. the current Bundle format) will require some
+Using a whole new format (even if recycling parts of other formats, e.g., the current Bundle format) will require some
-engineering, but [[User:Sascha_silbe|I]]MO trying to fit existing formats to our will take nearly as much time near-term and
+engineering, but [[User:Sascha_silbe|I]]MO trying to fit existing formats to ours will take nearly as much time near-term, and
-cause more trouble long-term. If designed properly, it might even get used as a standard interchange format for other systems.
+cause more trouble, long-term. If designed properly, it might even get used as a standard interchange format for other systems.
-=== Package contents ===
+==== Package contents ====
   * metadata (title, author, etc.)
   * software dependency information
@@ Line 73: / Line 75: @@
   * Rainbow security information
-=== Software dependencies ===
+==== Software dependencies ====
 Dependencies are a rather hard problem. We need to ensure that the right package (naming) in exactly the right version
-(forward and backwards compatibility), linked against the right libraries (recursive dependencies) with a matching
+(forward and backwards compatibility), linked against the right libraries (recursive dependencies) using a matching
-ABI (architecture dependency) is used.
+ABI (architecture dependency).
 The easiest way to ensure this is to bundle all dependencies with the Activity. But this might have severe drawbacks:
@@ Line 83: / Line 85: @@
   * old, buggy versions of libraries might get used (can be quite annoying)
-Thus is makes sense to let at least some of the dependencies get handled by the underlying OS. The new bundle format will
+Thus, it makes sense to let at least some of the dependencies get handled by the underlying OS. The new bundle format will
 contain a dependency tree with the following information for each entry:
   * generic package name (usually the name chosen by the original author)
@@ Line 90: / Line 92: @@
   * source code URL (optional, but recommended)
-Part of the installer will be OS-dependent: the generic name needs to be translated to an OS specific one (e.g. according
+Part of the installer will be OS-dependent: the generic name needs to be translated to an OS specific one (e.g., according
-to Debian Python Policy) and dependencies need to be resolved (e.g. via apt for Debian). If there's internet connectivity,
+to Debian Python Policy) and dependencies need to be resolved (e.g., via apt for Debian). If there's Internet connectivity,
-it might try to download the source from the given URL (advanced voodoo: check for new versions as well) if no OS package
+it might try to download the source from the given URL (advanced voodoo: check for new versions as well), if no OS package
 is available.
@@ Line 102: / Line 104: @@
 required by a lot of Activities). The security implications of this need to be carefully considered, though.
-=== Hardware dependencies ===
+==== Hardware dependencies ====
-Some Activities require special hardware (e.g. sensor module) or are known not to work on certain (sets of) architectures, e.g.
+Some Activities require special hardware (e.g., sensor module) or are known not to work on certain (sets of) architectures, e.g.,
-because the code is not 64bit-clean. When trying to install an Activity, it's better to warn the user about this than wasting his/her time
+because the code is not 64-bit-clean. When trying to install an Activity, it's better to warn the user about this than wasting his/her time
-(but of course with the option to install anyway so it could be adapted to the available hardware).
+(but of course, with the option to install anyway, so it could be adapted to the available hardware).
-=== Prebuilding ===
+==== Prebuilding ====
 As building from source might take a significant amount of time, it might be useful (bundle size/build time tradeoff) to
@@ Line 116: / Line 118: @@
 just ensure that source changes cause a rebuild.
-Sites like addons.sugarlabs.org might provide several packages, each prebuilt for a different platform (using buildbots) or none at
+Sites like activities.sugarlabs.org might provide several packages, each prebuilt for a different platform (using buildbots), or none at
 all to reduce download size.
-== Sugar Platform ==
+=== Sugar Platform ===
-Maybe most reasonable decision(at least for 0.84) is declaring "Sugar Platform" like a set of all non-sugar components that activity developers could rely on.
+Maybe most reasonable decision (at least for 0.84) is declaring "Sugar Platform" to be a set of all non-sugar components that activity developers could rely on.
-[[Category:Activity]]
+[[Category:Activity Team]]
+[[Category:Idea]]