Hello! I've ported dpkg (dselect and everything) to Solaris, Digital Unix, and FreeBSD. Basically, the programs themselves run, and if I override dependencies, etc., then I can install stuff. I've made a number of packages for each of the platforms, mostly gnu stuff.
I'm planning on writing a complete report when I'm done, so I'll skip most of the details now. The port was really easy; the biggest issue so far is that a lot of the make files in blah/debian/rules presume that /bin/sh is bash, which really screws all sorts of shit up on these three platforms. Anyway, things are going well. The next step is for me to bootstrap a machine using dpkg. I've got a AlphaStation500 set aside for the purpose, complete with a clean Digital Unix installation. I'm creating "dummy" packages for the base packages (libc, man, login, sysvinit, etc.) which are already installed on the system as part of the DU installation. These will have no real files associated with them, but will allow other, real packages to be installed, and for dependency calculations to procede with a minimum of fuss. The problem is that I don't really understand the bootstrap process. How is everything in /{usr,var}/lib/dpkg/ created by the boot floppies? What is the division of labor? Does dpkg create it, or is there an installation script, or is the job split all over the place? I could just go ahead and hack up something to create methods, available, status, etc., but I'd like to reuse whatever already exists, for obvious reasons. If someone could expound on the setup process which happens on the boot floppies, and maybe include some pointers to the relevant source files, then I'd be most appreciative. We at Mindspring plan on using dpkg to manage the software on all of our server machines, if we can get it to do the job to our satisfaction (which I think we can.) I plan on feeding everything back to the project, of course, and like I said, I plan on writing and publishing a report on the project when I'm done. Is anyone else interested in such a project? Would progress reports to the devel group be appreciated? -- Todd Graham Lewis Manager of Web Engineering (800) 719-4664, x2804 ******Linux****** MindSpring Enterprises [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .