Re: [Setup-tool-hackers] Archiver

[Bradford Hovinen <hovinen helixcode com>]

On 04 Jan 2001 20:14:47 +0100, Hans Petter Jansson wrote:
> I've been looking at the archiver lately, and have some comments and
> questions.
> 
> Originally, I'd hoped it could be like the other tools, e.g. a
> backend/frontend/interface combination fitting neatly into the current
> framework, with an XML configuration format. Obviously, since this is a
> meta-tool, there would be some exceptions (notably more commandline options),
> but I think it would work out nicely.
> 
> Does the archiver reside in $(PKG)/archiver/ and not in $(PKG)/src/archiver/
> because this is deemed impossible? Could it be done? Right now it sticks out
> a bit, at least in my mental model.

I have had many of the same thoughts. There are some features of the
archiver, such as adding backends to a location, that may indeed fall
under that scheme. The basic tasks of storing configuration data and
restoring such data to a backend does not fit in as well. Currently the
archiver is structured as a library and includes all related
functionality. In fact, it would not be difficult to build a backend
around this library; helix-archiver is essentially just that. I have to
think about this some more.

> Also, how do I list the recognized backends and locations with
> helix-archiver? How is this list populated when the package is installed?

That functionality is included in the library but not in the
command-line tool. To do this from the command line, it's best just to
say 'ls $HOME/.gnome/helix-config' and 'cat
$HOME/.gnome/helix-config/<location>/location.xml'.

In the library there is a feature that allows backends to be added to
the list of valid backends associated with an archive. I have not added
an interface for this to the command line tool, but intend to do so.
When a package is installed, its post-install script will issue the
command to add its backend id to the required archive.

> Lastly, how much work will it take to make it a completely usable part of the
> HST package (I've read the TODO, but more detail on how it works with the
> rest of the package would be nice)? What do we need to focus on, and who's
> going to do this? I'm willing to look into it if it's not possible for
> someone more qualified (i.e. Bradford), but I would need some help to do it
> efficiently.

We need to get the existing backends and capplets to archive their
configurations in the archiver, and they must be listed in the
default-user.xml and default-global.xml files. Also, the GUI needs a lot
of work before it will be relatively usable. Aside from that, there are
just a couple of small issues that need to be resolved.

> --
> Hans Petter
> 
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-- 
-Bradford Hovinen

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   -- R. Buckminster Fuller