M
Mauricio Fernández
rpa-base 0.2.3 is now available at http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org .
Many of the most popular libraries/applications as per Rubyforge
statistics (rake, redcloth, activerecord, rails, sqlite, log4r, ruvi,
and some >140 more libs/apps) have been packaged for use with rpa-base
0.2.3.
Screenshots and animations showing rpa-base's operations can be found at
http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Rpa_Base_In_Action .
Foreword
========
The Ruby Production Archive (RPA) will provide packages of Ruby
libraries and programs in a form that allows production use, engineered
through a stringent process resembling FreeBSD's or Debian's.
rpa-base is a port/package manager designed to support RPA.
Its scope and purposes are different to those of other systems like
RubyGems.
Please join #RPA on irc.freenode.net for additional information on
RPA/rpa-base and their goals (several RPA developers and users hang
around there). The FAQ list at
http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Rpa_FAQ
might prove useful too.
Changes since 0.2.2
===============================
This is mostly a bugfix release. Work on new features and a better UI is
taking place in the 0.3 branch at the moment.
* critical workaround for a modification in ostruct.rb introduced
recently in Ruby's ruby_1_8 CVS branch and HEAD (1.9), which broke
rpa-base altogether. Note that this workaround was released as a
self-update, but people using recent 1.8 builds (including the latest
preview) would not be able to install rpa-base for the first time
* support for
rpa install package1.rpa .... packageN.rpa
(you can copy the binary packages built on one machine to another and
install without a connection to the Internet)
* rpa update doesn't limit the new/updated info to the last 14 days
* bash completion script included (thanks to Brian Schröder, Nobu Nakada)
* several minor bugfixes
Status
======
Please keep in mind that RPA is at an embryonic stage; this means that
it is impossible to commit to all the long term goals stated in the
manifesto (http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?RpaManifesto) at
the moment. This doesn't make rpa-base any less usable however.
rpa-base requires Ruby 1.8.[12] (certainly 1.8 at least, it might work
on 1.8.0); it has been tested on several Linux distributions (Debian,
Fedora, older RH, Gentoo, etc), FreeBSD, DragonFly BSD, Mac OSX, win32
(cygwin, 'pragmatic installer', WinXP and 2K).
rpa-base is fairly stable at this stage; it has been tested on several
platforms during the last 6 months. Since rpa-base can self-update,
eventual bugs discovered through the intensive testing associated with
a public release could be solved easily by upgrading rpa-base using
rpa-base itself.
We would appreciate any feedback on rpa-base.
A mailing list has been set up for that purpose:
http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rpa-base-testers
Features
========
rpa-base is a port/package manager designed to support RPA's client-side
package management. You can think of it as RPA's apt-get + dpkg. It
features the following as of 0.2.3:
* strong dependency management: rpa-base installs dependencies as needed,
keeps track of reverse dependencies on uninstall, and will remove no
longer needed dependencies
* atomic (de)installs: operations on the local RPA installation are atomic
transactions; the system has been designed to survive ruby crashes (OS
crashes too on POSIX systems)
* parallel installs: you can install several ports in parallel; building
will be parallelized and the final phase will be serialized properly
* self-hosting: rpa-base installs and updates itself
* modular, extensible design: the 2-phase install is similar to FreeBSD and
Debian's package creation; rpa-base packages need not be restricted
to installing everything under a single directory ("1 package, 1 dir"
paradigm)
* rdoc integration: RDoc documentation for libraries is generated at install
time (currently disabled on win32)
* ri integration: ri data files are generated for all the libraries managed
by RPA; you can access this information with ri-rpa
* handling C extensions: if you have the required C toolchain, rpa-base can
compile extensions as needed
* unit testing: when a library is installed, its unit tests are run; the
installation is canceled if they don't pass
Several of the above features are illustrated in the screenshots and
animations available at
http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Rpa_Base_In_Action
Limitations
===========
A number of features have been pushed back to 0.3.0:
* full support for binary platform-specific packages
* signed packages/ports
* system-wide configuration system
* better UI
In practice, the first one is the most limiting at the moment since it means
that win32 users in particular need a working C toolchain to install
extensions. This will soon be addressed.
RPA needs your help
===================
RPA is an ambitious project in need for developers. These are some of the
areas that need to be worked on:
* packaging (new software and package maintenance)
* setting up a permanent repository infrastructure
* cross-compilation and build automation
* website development (should provide package indexes, QA section,
bugtracking, etc)
Please contact us through RubyForge's ML at
http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rpa-base-testers
or drop me an email at <[email protected]> (adding RPA to the subject
will help get it past the spam filtering
or via IRC, #RPA on
freenode.net if you have any interest or for any additional information
on RPA/rpa-base and their goals.
Many of the most popular libraries/applications as per Rubyforge
statistics (rake, redcloth, activerecord, rails, sqlite, log4r, ruvi,
and some >140 more libs/apps) have been packaged for use with rpa-base
0.2.3.
Screenshots and animations showing rpa-base's operations can be found at
http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Rpa_Base_In_Action .
Foreword
========
The Ruby Production Archive (RPA) will provide packages of Ruby
libraries and programs in a form that allows production use, engineered
through a stringent process resembling FreeBSD's or Debian's.
rpa-base is a port/package manager designed to support RPA.
Its scope and purposes are different to those of other systems like
RubyGems.
Please join #RPA on irc.freenode.net for additional information on
RPA/rpa-base and their goals (several RPA developers and users hang
around there). The FAQ list at
http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Rpa_FAQ
might prove useful too.
Changes since 0.2.2
===============================
This is mostly a bugfix release. Work on new features and a better UI is
taking place in the 0.3 branch at the moment.
* critical workaround for a modification in ostruct.rb introduced
recently in Ruby's ruby_1_8 CVS branch and HEAD (1.9), which broke
rpa-base altogether. Note that this workaround was released as a
self-update, but people using recent 1.8 builds (including the latest
preview) would not be able to install rpa-base for the first time
* support for
rpa install package1.rpa .... packageN.rpa
(you can copy the binary packages built on one machine to another and
install without a connection to the Internet)
* rpa update doesn't limit the new/updated info to the last 14 days
* bash completion script included (thanks to Brian Schröder, Nobu Nakada)
* several minor bugfixes
Status
======
Please keep in mind that RPA is at an embryonic stage; this means that
it is impossible to commit to all the long term goals stated in the
manifesto (http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?RpaManifesto) at
the moment. This doesn't make rpa-base any less usable however.
rpa-base requires Ruby 1.8.[12] (certainly 1.8 at least, it might work
on 1.8.0); it has been tested on several Linux distributions (Debian,
Fedora, older RH, Gentoo, etc), FreeBSD, DragonFly BSD, Mac OSX, win32
(cygwin, 'pragmatic installer', WinXP and 2K).
rpa-base is fairly stable at this stage; it has been tested on several
platforms during the last 6 months. Since rpa-base can self-update,
eventual bugs discovered through the intensive testing associated with
a public release could be solved easily by upgrading rpa-base using
rpa-base itself.
We would appreciate any feedback on rpa-base.
A mailing list has been set up for that purpose:
http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rpa-base-testers
Features
========
rpa-base is a port/package manager designed to support RPA's client-side
package management. You can think of it as RPA's apt-get + dpkg. It
features the following as of 0.2.3:
* strong dependency management: rpa-base installs dependencies as needed,
keeps track of reverse dependencies on uninstall, and will remove no
longer needed dependencies
* atomic (de)installs: operations on the local RPA installation are atomic
transactions; the system has been designed to survive ruby crashes (OS
crashes too on POSIX systems)
* parallel installs: you can install several ports in parallel; building
will be parallelized and the final phase will be serialized properly
* self-hosting: rpa-base installs and updates itself
* modular, extensible design: the 2-phase install is similar to FreeBSD and
Debian's package creation; rpa-base packages need not be restricted
to installing everything under a single directory ("1 package, 1 dir"
paradigm)
* rdoc integration: RDoc documentation for libraries is generated at install
time (currently disabled on win32)
* ri integration: ri data files are generated for all the libraries managed
by RPA; you can access this information with ri-rpa
* handling C extensions: if you have the required C toolchain, rpa-base can
compile extensions as needed
* unit testing: when a library is installed, its unit tests are run; the
installation is canceled if they don't pass
Several of the above features are illustrated in the screenshots and
animations available at
http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Rpa_Base_In_Action
Limitations
===========
A number of features have been pushed back to 0.3.0:
* full support for binary platform-specific packages
* signed packages/ports
* system-wide configuration system
* better UI
In practice, the first one is the most limiting at the moment since it means
that win32 users in particular need a working C toolchain to install
extensions. This will soon be addressed.
RPA needs your help
===================
RPA is an ambitious project in need for developers. These are some of the
areas that need to be worked on:
* packaging (new software and package maintenance)
* setting up a permanent repository infrastructure
* cross-compilation and build automation
* website development (should provide package indexes, QA section,
bugtracking, etc)
Please contact us through RubyForge's ML at
http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rpa-base-testers
or drop me an email at <[email protected]> (adding RPA to the subject
will help get it past the spam filtering
freenode.net if you have any interest or for any additional information
on RPA/rpa-base and their goals.