Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

torwag · 2011-02-08 08:03:50

Dear All,

Over the last year Arch became my master-distro, minigrating from Debian/Ubuntu, I really enjoyed the Arch-way so far.
However, sometimes I try to follow some How-Tos or some other stuff on the web. And many of those are written for Debian/Ubuntu, Suse Linux, Red Hat, etc.
Esp., commercial software often supports only "enterprise versions" of Linux.

Trying to follow those tutorials and how-tos is not a real problem beside of one point.
Getting dependencies right. Normally those tutorials start with a large list of dependencies:

It always take me much much time to find the correct aquivalent in Arch. 90% is painless but the remaining 10% can take many many time to figure out what to install.

I would like to propose an addtional line in PKGBUILD to give the name of a certain packages in other distros.
like a package
libarchfoo
could have a line
alien_pkgname=('libfoo' 'libfoo-2' 'libfoosuse')
The lines purpose is only to be parsed during package searches

pacman -Ss libfoo
might just result in:
no package with this name. The following package might be aquivalent
libarchfoo

This would allow people easily to follow any "alien-kind" of tutorial, How-To, compile readme, etc. in a Arch Linux.

All the best

Torwag

ngoonee · 2011-02-08 08:47:30

Instead of following how-tos of questionable quality, just look for the software on the AUR. I haven't come across many apps that aren't there in one form or another.

Besides, in your case you should be searching for 'foo' anyway. Its not all THAT difficult to figure out what provides what, the names don't change from donkey to cadillac, at most a lib is prepended/appended, some hyphenation changes, etc. Searching for the base name normally gives you what you need.

torwag · 2011-02-08 09:04:43

Hi ngoonee,
thanks for answering.

Guess you can't say how-tos for other distros are of questionable quality...
And if so, you would have to admit that the same is true for AUR.
Beside of that there is a difference between a package installation (most likely a single piece of software) and a How-To (which could be the set-up of an complete rendering cluster with 100 of linux-based nodes).

Arch-Linux has execellent How-tos and wiki pages no question about that. My intention was simple the idea that an addtional optional line in PKGBUILD would not hurt or break something but might help for those cases where package names differ for some reasons, or where people have trouble to get it right.

>Searching for the base name normally gives you what you need.
Yep, thats exactly my point _normally_ .... I was curious about the non-normal stuff.

I agree that you might often have sucess by simply cutting off tails and heads of a packagename, but if it comes to multilib stuff and some other tools in multiple variations, it can become tricky.
Again, this would not hurt in any way, it would be simply a plus of information.

.:B:. · 2011-02-08 09:46:16

Feature requests belong on the bug tracker, file a ticket and see what the devs say about it .

torwag · 2011-02-08 09:55:04

Thanks I will try...
I was struggeling where to place it.

Thanks for pointing to it.

ngoonee · 2011-02-08 12:04:21

torwag wrote:

Hi ngoonee,
thanks for answering.
Guess you can't say how-tos for other distros are of questionable quality...
And if so, you would have to admit that the same is true for AUR.

Fair enough, that is true.

Again, this would not hurt in any way, it would be simply a plus of information.

This however would not be true, someone would have to do the work. Increased packager load and all that. What you're requesting is that packagers look around at other distros (maybe just Fedora/Debian? Other smaller distros?) to see what they name their packages and put those names there.

Requesting it is fine, of course, but I doubt it would ever be taken up.

jonathan183 · 2011-02-08 20:09:27

torwag wrote:

Thanks I will try...
I was struggeling where to place it.
Thanks for pointing to it.

Why don't you start a wiki page ... something like equivalent packages in other distros - that way you and other users can contribute when a package is a pita to find and it does not put any additional burden on devs ...

Last edited by jonathan183 (2011-02-08 20:10:33)

Inxsible · 2011-02-08 20:21:01

Even if the devs do take it up, it will have to be an optional field and what's the guarantee that every AUR packager will actually take the trouble of finding out the names of said packages in other distros??

That would necessitate every AUR packager to have multiple distros installed (Fedora/Debian/Slackware) quadruple boot.

Its a nice idea, but somehow I don't see it as being successful. A wiki page as suggested by jonathan183 would probably be the way to go.

lifeafter2am · 2011-02-08 20:31:21

I agree that a wiki page is the way to go on this one. I've had to install a few programs (SPSS, Maya) to Arch that aren't "officially" supported; but really all it took was some good Googling and I was good to go.

On a complete side note, I like how these developers call distros other than Red Hat etc "boutique" distros. Just sounds funny to me.

Allan · 2011-02-08 23:04:25

Lets just say I think this will never be implemented... I do not see the point of including what will always be an incomplete list into a PKGBUILD.

ngoonee · 2011-02-09 00:11:29

jonathan183 wrote:

torwag wrote:
Thanks I will try...
I was struggeling where to place it.
Thanks for pointing to it.
Why don't you start a wiki page ... something like equivalent packages in other distros - that way you and other users can contribute when a package is a pita to find and it does not put any additional burden on devs ...

Most sensible suggestion, I think.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-02-08 08:03:50

Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

#2 2011-02-08 08:47:30

Re: Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

#3 2011-02-08 09:04:43

Re: Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

#4 2011-02-08 09:46:16

Re: Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

#5 2011-02-08 09:55:04

Re: Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

#6 2011-02-08 12:04:21

Re: Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

#7 2011-02-08 20:09:27

Re: Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

#8 2011-02-08 20:21:01

Re: Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

#9 2011-02-08 20:31:21

Re: Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

#10 2011-02-08 23:04:25

Re: Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

#11 2011-02-09 00:11:29

Re: Feature Request: Add an optional alien_pkgname line to PKGBUILD

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