dCore Import Debian Packages to Mountable SCE extensions > dCore x86 Imported Extensions

sce-import modification

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ulfr:

   just a question

   could the sce-import command be modified
   to individually package each app and dependency into a tcz 
   (or an sce that is similar to a tcz)
   instead of loading them into one big sce
   i know it would take longer to make extensions initially 
   but then the benefits of tinycore and dcore could be combined
   such as loading and updating apps individually 
 
   anyway
 
   thanks for making and maintaining this masterpiece
   its the best designed distro ever 

   ulfr
 

Jason W:
Hi ulfr,
This was considered early in dCore, but the SCE design was settled on for various reasons.  Each has its advantages, but with the larger number of packages that Debian splits apps and libraries into, SCE simplifies things.  I recall circular dependencies in the Debian repo killed the TCZ approach, but we deal with those circular deps in sce-import.  I will do some private testing of allowing TCZ alongside SCE would be neat to be able to choose for those that prefer TCZ.  Now that things have settled a bit i can ponder it.  Probably not TCZ but  one SCE per Debian package and a dep file created  as an option of sce-import.  That way the SCE concept and structure, loading, updates,  stays the same.  Thanks for your input.

ulfr:

   thanks jason for taking the time to explain

   i dont want to introduce more work or complexity
   i make the tcz and sce format interchangeable by just making a handmade sce
   as you outlined on the wiki
   (and thanks a lot for taking the time to provide that info as well) 
   
   i notice that the sce-load script finds and merges packages
   i was just thinking of squashing each package instead of merging it
   and just adding the name to a deps list for loading
     
   thanks again for all your hard work
   and attention to our annoying questions
   i want you to know that we appreciate the genius of this creation

   regards
   
   ulfr 

Jason W:
Thanks ulfr, but the wiki info has been provided and maintained by others.

On further thought and looking at the code, the SCE design is fairly complex from a code standpoint and quite featured, so will require further thought to weave in a fully modular option.   In the early days would have been simple, but even then one reason to turn to the self contained SCE was for performance.  I copied in a terminal the contents of a a 2GB mounted SCE with 1215 packages as symlinks with the command in sce-load to another place in RAM, took a little over 2 seconds whether the files existed already or not.  Now, loading the SCE from scratch took about 2 minutes, but after that loading an SCE with the same package contents and only the addition of icewm took about 30 seconds.  The main time factor is the startup scripts.  But if loading 1215 packages was done one extension per package, I am sure performance would suffer with the parsing massive number of individual dep files with their large contents, if that were the only factor which it is not.  Each SCE that uses another SCE as a dependency has the list of packages of each dependency SCE contained in it, recursively, for use by sce-update and other functions. 

Granted, sce-update will make one large SCE get updated for one little startup script or package update.  But the SCE approach is as modular as one wants it to be.  Say an SCE named base-libs, one named server, one named python, one gtk2, and one xorg, etc, etc, with each depending on the others so no duplication.  Would make updating them take less time the more modulear it is. 

Thanks for your questions and ideas, all are taken into consideration and vetted, and most features have been the result of a feature request.  Not saying supporting a fully modular usage of the SCE conecpt will never happen, I will think more on it and how it can be done in the framework of the existing structure.

JW

ulfr:
    thanks very much for taking the time to answer my questions
    i hope i did not distract you too much from your work

    after a little thought i agree with you 
    that there are many advantages to a combined sce
    and that the system you have created is both very powerful and complex
    and should not be modified

    since a homemade sce is easy to make
    that is clearly the way to go
    if one wants an interchangable tcz/sce
    your system provides a wealth of information
    that can be used to direct its construction 

   thanks again for all your work and patience
  i will now go back to playing with your masterpiece

   best regards

   ulfr

     


   
     

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