[gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Ramon van Alteren]

Hi List,

We use catalyst to build our server install images for our serverpark,
we do so on a couple of servers and a couple of development laptops.
Sadly these are not all set up equally. Which makes editting and
developing specfiles a pain at times.

We would like to be able to specify the following in specfiles:

portage_confdir: portage/webserver

This would enable us to keep our specfiles in svn and check them out on
every host neccesary, as long as it has a valid catalyst.conf file
building stages should "Just Work (TM)". Currently it doesn't because
some of the vars in the specfiles need to be in absolute form to work.

I would like to suggest the following solution:

Introduction of a new variable in catalyst.conf:
relative_basepath="somepath"

Introduction of new code in catalyst to do the following:
detect usage of a relative path in the specfile vars (aka does it start
with a /) and add relative_base in front of the relative path.
If relative_base is not defined, default to / ( or maybe to catalyst.conf/share_dir ?)

This would affect the following vars in the specfiles:
portage_confdir, portage_overlay, pkgcache_path, kerncache_path,
fsscript, linuxrc (?), motd, root_overlay, xinitrc, kernel/<label>/config
We're mainly using stage4 specfiles, I had a quick look through the
other examples in catalyst but couldn't find any other likely
candidates, but if I'm missing any please let me know.

To be clear, I'm willing to do all the work to get this implemented, I
already hacked up our current catalyst-2.0.1 install to do just this.
It is however rather hackish and i would like to get this in the main
tree. The patch would be against current svn.

I'm curious about a number of things:

* Would this functionality be useful for more people on the list ?
* Would this patch ever stand a chance of getting integrated ?

Apart from that I'd appreciate any comments, caveats, critisism etc.

Grtz Ramon

-- 
gentoo-catalyst@gentoo.org mailing list

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 638 bytes --]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can easily modify this to pull in any way: scp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 843 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 630 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Discover the new Windows Vista
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 811 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 666 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 849 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 630 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Discover the new Windows Vista
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=windows+vista&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 811 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 640 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 821 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 703 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 880 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 640 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Explore the seven wonders of the world
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 821 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 639 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
News, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Get it now!
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 815 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 666 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 849 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 703 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 880 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 666 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Connect to the next generation of MSN Messenger 
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 849 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 639 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
News, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Get it now!
http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 815 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 703 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 880 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 640 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Explore the seven wonders of the world
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 821 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 666 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Connect to the next generation of MSN Messenger 
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 849 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 630 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Discover the new Windows Vista
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=windows+vista&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 811 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 640 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Explore the seven wonders of the world
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 821 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 639 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
News, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Get it now!
http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 815 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 703 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Invite your mail contacts to join your friends list with Windows Live Spaces. It's easy!
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[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 880 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 703 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Invite your mail contacts to join your friends list with Windows Live Spaces. It's easy!
http://spaces.live.com/spacesapi.aspx?wx_action=create&wx_url=/friends.aspx&mkt=en-us

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 880 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 640 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Explore the seven wonders of the world
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 821 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 640 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Explore the seven wonders of the world
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 821 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 703 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Invite your mail contacts to join your friends list with Windows Live Spaces. It's easy!
http://spaces.live.com/spacesapi.aspx?wx_action=create&wx_url=/friends.aspx&mkt=en-us

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 880 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 630 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Discover the new Windows Vista
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=windows+vista&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 811 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 639 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
News, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Get it now!
http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 815 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 639 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
News, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Get it now!
http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 815 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 639 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
News, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Get it now!
http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 815 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 639 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
News, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Get it now!
http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 815 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 666 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Connect to the next generation of MSN Messenger 
http://imagine-msn.com/messenger/launch80/default.aspx?locale=en-us&source=wlmailtagline

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 849 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 639 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
News, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. Get it now!
http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 815 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 640 bytes --]

Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
Explore the seven wonders of the world
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 821 bytes --]

RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
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RE: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

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Hi,Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can already read? $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that you can modify this to pull in any way: scp, ftp, www, etc, or just add protocol as an option.Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
_________________________________________________________________
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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Chris Gianelloni]

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On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 14:02 +0200, Ramon van Alteren wrote:
> To be clear, I'm willing to do all the work to get this implemented, I
> already hacked up our current catalyst-2.0.1 install to do just this.
> It is however rather hackish and i would like to get this in the main
> tree. The patch would be against current svn.
> 
> I'm curious about a number of things:
> 
> * Would this functionality be useful for more people on the list ?

What is stopping you from using an absolute path on the machines?  If
you control them, standardize on a checkout location.

> * Would this patch ever stand a chance of getting integrated ?

Not unless we can come up with some reason why we would need to add the
code complexity to catalyst.  Essentially, there would have to be a few
use cases that would absolutely prohibit using absolute paths, otherwise
I don't see a reason for changing it.  This has been brought up before
and always shot down simply because nobody could ever give me a reason
why an absolute path wouldn't work for them and only a relative would.
If you can show that what you want to do cannot be accomplished with the
current code and absolute paths, then it would be accepted.  Remember
that simply making something easier for you isn't a valid reason for
hacking up catalyst internals that much.

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering Strategic Lead
Alpha/AMD64/x86 Architecture Teams
Games Developer/Council Member/Foundation Trustee
Gentoo Foundation

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Ramon van Alteren]

Nelson Batalha wrote:
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be easier to just write a 
> tiny script to "rsync" a local repository of specs that Catalyst can 
> already read?
>
> $ script.sh address/file.spec [options]
>
> it would sync and call catalyst [options]. There's the advantage that 
> you can easily modify this to pull in any way: scp, www, etc, or just 
> add protocol as an option.
>
> Just for Catalyst to "do one thing, do it well" [1] ;).
>
>
> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
I'm not sure I'm following you.

The problem is that specfiles will be in different locations depending 
on host or environment:
f.e. /catalyst-prod and /catalyst-dev

or
/home/ramon/src/catalyst-images/portage_config/webserver and 
/home/frank/src/server-images/portage_config/webserver

We'd like to have a single definition inside the specfiles for a number 
of the parameters, such as
portage_confdir = portage_config/webserver

instead of

portage_confdir =/home/ramon/src/catalyst-images/portage_config/webserver
and
portage_confdir = /home/ramon/src/catalyst-images/portage_config/webserver

How is this solved by rsyncing ?

I could write a makefile that substitutes variables in our specfiles 
dependant on /etc/catalyst/catalyst.conf but I was curious whether this 
was a more common use case and  it didnt sound like such a weird thing 
to have, relative path support in catalyst specfiles.


>
> Get news, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. 
> Check it out! <http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx%20>
I got your email and about 18 copies with different microsoft taglines. 
Did you clickety-click or is M$ having mailserver issues ?

Ramon
-- 
gentoo-catalyst@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Nelson Batalha]

(> I got your email and about 18 copies with different microsoft taglines.
> Did you clickety-click or is M$ having mailserver issues ?

Sorry everyone, windows live "beta"...)


> The problem is that specfiles will be in different locations depending
> on host or environment:
> f.e. /catalyst-prod and /catalyst-dev

It appeared as if you wanted to use specs online (on several pcs). I see
your point, but either python already lets you to write the paths with a
environment variable:

portage_confdir =${CURRENT_CLS_PATH}/portage_config/webserver

or if it doesn't, a small script with sed would do it, right?
-- 
gentoo-catalyst@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Thilo Bangert]

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> Not unless we can come up with some reason why we would need to add the
> code complexity to catalyst.  Essentially, there would have to be a few
> use cases that would absolutely prohibit using absolute paths,
> otherwise I don't see a reason for changing it.  This has been brought
> up before and always shot down simply because nobody could ever give me
> a reason why an absolute path wouldn't work for them and only a
> relative would. If you can show that what you want to do cannot be
> accomplished with the current code and absolute paths, then it would be
> accepted.  Remember that simply making something easier for you isn't a
> valid reason for hacking up catalyst internals that much.

i'd ask the other way around: why only allow absolute paths?
this limitation strikes me as counter intuitive.

when i started using catalyst, i was expecting it to work this way and 
wondered why it didnt. so far, i find your arguments against it a bit 
weak.... i would love to have that extra flexibility.
(the guy even said he wanted to do the coding!)

heck, show the (hackish) patch, and lets examine "the bloat"...
perhaps this needs to be part of the 2.1 branch!
:)

have fun
kind regards
Thilo

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Ramon van Alteren]

Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 14:02 +0200, Ramon van Alteren wrote:
>   
>> To be clear, I'm willing to do all the work to get this implemented, I
>> already hacked up our current catalyst-2.0.1 install to do just this.
>> It is however rather hackish and i would like to get this in the main
>> tree. The patch would be against current svn.
>>
>> I'm curious about a number of things:
>>
>> * Would this functionality be useful for more people on the list ?
>>     
>
> What is stopping you from using an absolute path on the machines?  If
> you control them, standardize on a checkout location.
>   
To be honest, nothing, it's a nuisance or an itch that's driving this 
request not a necessity.
Most of us develop on laptops and commit code once it works, with 
deadline pressure as it is this tends to fuck up paths in the specfiles, 
which need to be reverted, yadadada.
Apart from that having the ability to checkout both devel- and 
production-branches  on the same buildmachine without the need to change 
the paths in the specfiles would be cool.
>> * Would this patch ever stand a chance of getting integrated ?
>>     
>
> Not unless we can come up with some reason why we would need to add the
> code complexity to catalyst.  Essentially, there would have to be a few
> use cases that would absolutely prohibit using absolute paths, otherwise
> I don't see a reason for changing it.  This has been brought up before
> and always shot down simply because nobody could ever give me a reason
> why an absolute path wouldn't work for them and only a relative would.
> If you can show that what you want to do cannot be accomplished with the
> current code and absolute paths, then it would be accepted.

OK, clear enough.
I can't think of a use-case where absolute paths will not work and 
relative paths will, I have trouble finding such a use-case in general.
If that's the criteria then I guess it's a doomed enhancement request.

> Remember that simply making something easier for you isn't a valid reason for
> hacking up catalyst internals that much.
>   
This puzzles me, if making a tool easier to use for it's users isn't a 
valid reason for hacking at the tool, then what is ?
I understand issues with code-quality, reluctance to touch internals and 
show me code before talk..........

It was a dual request, if nobody on list would be using the 
functionality I'll maintain a patch outside the tree for our benefit.
No sense in intergrating then.

Best regards,

Ramon
-- 
gentoo-catalyst@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Ramon van Alteren]

Thilo Bangert wrote:
> heck, show the (hackish) patch, and lets examine "the bloat"...
> perhaps this needs to be part of the 2.1 branch!
> :)
>   
Naahh, it isn't in any shape to show anyone at all, currently it doesn't 
even work correctly if catalyst is not called from within share_dir.
I did the patch in 15 minutes with no prior knowledge of catalyst 
internals after loosing about an hour of work on figuring out what went 
wrong to find yet another mixed-up absolute path.

If I have some spare time next week I'll see if I can come up with 
something I am not too embarrassed to show :-)

Regards,

Ramon
-- 
gentoo-catalyst@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Daniel Ostrow]

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<snip>
> > Remember that simply making something easier for you isn't a valid reason for
> > hacking up catalyst internals that much.
> >   
> This puzzles me, if making a tool easier to use for it's users isn't a 
> valid reason for hacking at the tool, then what is ?
> I understand issues with code-quality, reluctance to touch internals and 
> show me code before talk..........
</snip>

The reasoning is quite simple. The target "users" of catalyst are first,
foremost, and finally members of Gentoo's Release Engineering team. The
fact that other people use it is a byproduct of making the code
available for such use, not the actual intention. When considering
enhancement requests they have to filter through 3 major questions.

1). Is this functionality going to make catalyst easier to use or more
robust as *Gentoo's* release management tool.

If it doesn't make the job of releasing *official* Gentoo media easier
then we fall to question 2.

2). Is this feature in enough public demand and can enough use cases for
it be provided that even though it won't necessarily enhance the process
of building *official* release materials.

If so then question 3 comes into play.

3). Can it be done without complicating the code enough that Gentoo's
capability to make reproducible releases is impaired *and* without
making harder to maintain and/or extend the code for the purpose of a
Gentoo's official releases.

Again I want to stress that the fact that other people use catalyst is
nice, and we encourage it to a certain extent, but the purpose of
catalyst is to build official Gentoo media, no more, no less.

--Dan

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Chris Gianelloni]

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On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 23:39 +0200, Ramon van Alteren wrote:
> This puzzles me, if making a tool easier to use for it's users isn't a 
> valid reason for hacking at the tool, then what is ?

Well, I know I have said this before, but I'll say it again here.  We
develop catalyst for our own usage first, and everyone else second.  If
it doesn't directly impact Release Engineering, it immediately gets a
back seat to changes that we need/want.  When I said "you" here, I meant
you specifically, not any other form of you.

> It was a dual request, if nobody on list would be using the 
> functionality I'll maintain a patch outside the tree for our benefit.

This was really my question.  Would other people use it?

One of the biggest problems that we have had with catalyst is people
that want to change catalyst to meet their own specific needs and our
need to balance things out so that we don't end up with unused code
paths.  Having a single, consistent interface for the spec files allows
for much simpler support on a product that we honestly wished we didn't
have to support, at all.  If the change is something that lots of people
would likely use, such as the stage4 target, then we will add it even if
we don't use it ourselves.  Our general rule is don't change anything
unless there is a really good reason.  As I said, simply making things
slightly more convenient isn't really a good enough reason, IMO, unless
a lot of people would use the functionality, and even then, it would
depend on code availability and maintainability.  Of course, writing up
a patch resolves the first issue, but the second would still remain.

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering Strategic Lead
Alpha/AMD64/x86 Architecture Teams
Games Developer/Council Member/Foundation Trustee
Gentoo Foundation

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Ramon van Alteren]

Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 23:39 +0200, Ramon van Alteren wrote:
>   
>> This puzzles me, if making a tool easier to use for it's users isn't a 
>> valid reason for hacking at the tool, then what is ?
>>     
> Well, I know I have said this before, but I'll say it again here.  We
> develop catalyst for our own usage first, and everyone else second.  If
> it doesn't directly impact Release Engineering, it immediately gets a
> back seat to changes that we need/want.  When I said "you" here, I meant
> you specifically, not any other form of you.
>   
Fair enough and very clear.
I have to say that this is a much clearer rejection reason then "show me 
a use-case which can only be solved with relative paths in the specfile".
I'd be very hard-pressed to come up with such a use-case regardless of 
the tool.
>> It was a dual request, if nobody on list would be using the 
>> functionality I'll maintain a patch outside the tree for our benefit.
>>     
>
> This was really my question.  Would other people use it?
>
> One of the biggest problems that we have had with catalyst is people
> that want to change catalyst to meet their own specific needs and our
> need to balance things out so that we don't end up with unused code
> paths.  Having a single, consistent interface for the spec files allows
> for much simpler support on a product that we honestly wished we didn't
> have to support, at all.  If the change is something that lots of people
> would likely use, such as the stage4 target, then we will add it even if
> we don't use it ourselves.  Our general rule is don't change anything
> unless there is a really good reason.  As I said, simply making things
> slightly more convenient isn't really a good enough reason, IMO, unless
> a lot of people would use the functionality, and even then, it would
> depend on code availability and maintainability.  Of course, writing up
> a patch resolves the first issue, but the second would still remain.
>   
Well let's see if there are others chiming in who want this 
functionality :-)

I'll give a short description what we do with catalyst just for the hell 
of it,
you might enjoy hearing what others do with the tool even though it's 
primarily developed for gentoo-releases.

Catalyst is one of the two gentoo projects which have a central role in 
our hands-off deployment system in our serverpark.
We prepare stage4 server images for our servers with catalyst for both 
amd64 and x86 archs.
We also generate development vmware images for our developers with it, 
which we try to keep as similar to production as we can get them.

We boot new servers with pxe and load them with a read-only nfs-root and 
a tmpfs overlay for host-specifics.
After that the install-tool by agaffney kicks in and installs the 
server-image created with catalyst on the new server.
We've modified install-tools to be able to look up install parameters in 
a mysql-database and use that to setup server-task specific parameters 
and networking.

After installing the server is rebooted and comes up with correct 
hostname and network settings.
Catalyst stage4 allows us to setup a few services to be started at boot, 
one of these is puppet a configuration client.
It connects to (one of) our puppet servers (aptly named puppetmasters 
:-) and loads the configuration for the services the server is supposed 
to perform.

The entire system helps us deploy new hardware:
Sticking a server in a rack in one of our datacenters to having it ready 
for production takes 30 minutes and we estimate (but haven't tested) 
that we can easily do 100 in an hour.

Catalyst is a key component in the system because it has made our build 
process for system images repeatable.
Before catalyst we were using chroots to build system images 
semi-manually, rebuilding a chroot to solve a bug after deployment was 
not a nice process to go through.
It's also removing a lot of bugs which were due to development vmware 
images being totally different from server-images.

We use the package-cache from catalyst to drive our binary package 
server and are investigating the use of the tinderbox target to generate 
repeatable builds for binary packages on top of the system-image 
versions we have deployed in our serverpark.

Right now we're busy converting our entire serverpark of 600 servers to 
catalyst-based server-images.
For a lot of server classes this is quick and painless re-install, for 
our data-intensive servers this is harder but we'll get there in the end.

If it wasn't clear from the above, we're extremely happy with catalyst :-)
If anyone is curious or wants to know more, feel free to poke me on irc, 
my nick is innocenti

Regards,

Ramon

-- 
gentoo-catalyst@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[John Eckhart]

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Chris,
   In response to your question "Would people use this" ... I can say for
certain that I would most definitely use it. I've been using catalyst for a
while to build images and systems for various purposes at work.

   I often build different types of images using variations on the spec
files and in order to not pollute my tested working environments, I copy the
whole thing into a new dir. I currently use some sed magic to set the
absolute paths but if catalyst used relative paths it would make life just a
little better.

   The big thing is when I make changes in a development spec file and I
want to compare those to the original I need to sort through the absolute
path differences in order to find the lines that actually changed. Also,
since the absolute paths change per dir, a simple diff -rq specs.orig
specs.new will show all my specs as changed. It would be great to know
exactly what files changed without manually sifting them.

So, FWIW ... I would vote thumbs up to the suggestions. =)

Thanks for the great tool. There really is no replacement for catalyst
(trust me, I've tried them all).
John

On 4/23/07, Chris Gianelloni <wolf31o2@gentoo.org> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 23:39 +0200, Ramon van Alteren wrote:
> > This puzzles me, if making a tool easier to use for it's users isn't a
> > valid reason for hacking at the tool, then what is ?
>
> Well, I know I have said this before, but I'll say it again here.  We
> develop catalyst for our own usage first, and everyone else second.  If
> it doesn't directly impact Release Engineering, it immediately gets a
> back seat to changes that we need/want.  When I said "you" here, I meant
> you specifically, not any other form of you.
>
> > It was a dual request, if nobody on list would be using the
> > functionality I'll maintain a patch outside the tree for our benefit.
>
> This was really my question.  Would other people use it?
>
> One of the biggest problems that we have had with catalyst is people
> that want to change catalyst to meet their own specific needs and our
> need to balance things out so that we don't end up with unused code
> paths.  Having a single, consistent interface for the spec files allows
> for much simpler support on a product that we honestly wished we didn't
> have to support, at all.  If the change is something that lots of people
> would likely use, such as the stage4 target, then we will add it even if
> we don't use it ourselves.  Our general rule is don't change anything
> unless there is a really good reason.  As I said, simply making things
> slightly more convenient isn't really a good enough reason, IMO, unless
> a lot of people would use the functionality, and even then, it would
> depend on code availability and maintainability.  Of course, writing up
> a patch resolves the first issue, but the second would still remain.
>
> --
> Chris Gianelloni
> Release Engineering Strategic Lead
> Alpha/AMD64/x86 Architecture Teams
> Games Developer/Council Member/Foundation Trustee
> Gentoo Foundation
>
>

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Chris Gianelloni]

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On Tue, 2007-04-24 at 10:41 -0400, John Eckhart wrote:
>    I often build different types of images using variations on the
> spec files and in order to not pollute my tested working environments,
> I copy the whole thing into a new dir. I currently use some sed magic
> to set the absolute paths but if catalyst used relative paths it would
> make life just a little better.

I guess I just don't get why people are putting paths they know are
going to be variable in a spec file.

Example stage1.spec:
subarch: x86
target: stage1
rel_type: default
profile: default-linux/x86/no-nptl
chost: i486-pc-linux-gnu

Example script:
#!/bin/bash
version=$1
source=$2

catalyst -f stage1.spec -c /path/to/some/catalyst.conf -C version_stamp=
$version snapshot=$version source_subpath=$source

Remember that you don't have to have everything in the spec file.
There's no need for any sed-fu, at all.  Simply have your script provide
whatever it is that you want and give it to catalyst via -C on the
command line, which works in conjunction with the -f specfile options.

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering Strategic Lead
Alpha/AMD64/x86 Architecture Teams
Games Developer/Council Member/Foundation Trustee
Gentoo Foundation

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Re: [gentoo-catalyst] catalyst enhancement

[Ramon van Alteren]

Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> I guess I just don't get why people are putting paths they know are
> going to be variable in a spec file.
>   
vars needed for a stage4:

subarch:
version_stamp:
snapshot:
source_subpath:
portage_confdir:
portage_overlay:
pkgcache_path:
kerncache_path:
stage4/fsscript:
stage4/root_overlay:
boot/kernel/gentoo/config:

with different invocations needed for:
amd64
x86
devel
prod
servertypeA
servertypeB
servertypeC

And combinations thereof.

Still possible, but would make life easier if solved with relative paths 
in specfile instead of wrapperscripts and commandline options.

Regards,

Ramon
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