From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 4.0.0 (2022-12-14) on finch.gentoo.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.1 required=5.0 tests=DATE_IN_PAST_24_48, INVALID_DATE,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,NO_RELAYS autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=4.0.0 Received: by cvs.gentoo.org (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 35E5848CA7; Sat, 20 Jan 2001 18:14:16 -0700 (MST) From: drobbins@gentoo.org To: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] /proc and portage Message-ID: <20010120181416.A6798@cvs.gentoo.org> References: <20010119094715.B17728@tsuny.ctn.cogs.susx.ac.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <20010119094715.B17728@tsuny.ctn.cogs.susx.ac.uk>; from thomasfl@cogs.susx.ac.uk on Fri, Jan 19, 2001 at 09:47:15AM +0000 Sender: gentoo-dev-admin@gentoo.org Errors-To: gentoo-dev-admin@gentoo.org X-BeenThere: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.0 Precedence: bulk Reply-To: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Gentoo Linux development list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Date: Sat Jan 20 18:15:01 2001 X-Original-Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 18:14:16 -0700 X-Archives-Salt: 3689682e-6471-4a50-9f38-e42489fbabfa X-Archives-Hash: f01ec1188e93e88aeb91908f1a1e18c7 On Fri, Jan 19, 2001 at 09:47:15AM +0000, Thomas Flavel wrote: > Hi, > > I had an idea I dimsmissed which I thought I should post anyway, on the off chance that it > might actually get used ;) > > I was thinking about how /proc is sometimes used as a bi-directional interface, for example I > can "echo 1>/proc/whatever" to turn on ping flood protection or something similar. I was > wondering how practical it would be to have a similar thing for portage? > > If I could say "echo gimp>/proc/portage/install" or "cat /proc/portage/packages" etc then > this would mean that it would be very easy to write front ends for portage, plus with this > minimal interface it would be very nice to use in scripts... I know it would be a massive > kernel module, and probably too much effort to actually produce/maintain but I thought you > should hear the idea... have a think about it please Well, even if we want to implement something like this, it shouldn't go in /proc, and we don't need a kernel patch. It's fully possible to do things like this in user space with directories residing in /var. We do need some kind of robust portage interface, and something like this could work. Specifically, I can think of something like a revamped portage download manager scanning the /var/lib/portage/download directory for new files that it should download. That would also allow the download manager to "double up" on downloads if more than one file needed to be downloaded at the same time. However, the actual build process is more linear, and I don't know if there would be much benefit from this approach besides creating a standardized interface. I'll keep it in mind for the next revision of Portage. Best Regards, -- Daniel Robbins President/CEO http://www.gentoo.org Gentoo Technologies, Inc.