[Pkg-puppet-devel] module package updates

[Michael Weiser]

Hi micah,

On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 11:25:57AM -0400, micah wrote:

> > Finally I have the following new packages prepared:
> >
> > puppet-module-saz-ssh (2.8.1)
> > puppet-module-saz-locales (2.2.2)
> > puppet-module-jlyheden-pam (0.0.1)
> > puppet-module-rgevaert-saslauthd (1.0.0)
> I'm curious about the selection process here... why these specific
> modules? I'm curious because I'm using a different ssh module that I
> think works quite well with debian (there are a few debian developers
> who work on it)[0].

Usually it goes as follows:
- I look at the list of packages already in Debian - easiest install
  with apt-get install
- I look at hits of some search queries on PuppetForge - easy install
  with puppet module install
- I look at hits of some search queries on github - medium-easy
  install with git clone

Then I select the first module I find that has my required
functionality, seems maintained, seems generally most powerful and
has a responsive maintainer if I start hacking it and open merge
requests (untested in the case of saz as of yet :). Version and download
numbers are another factor, indicating maintenance and community
acceptance. Finally there's my personal taste.

In the case of ssh that was saz/ssh. One feature I really, really like
about it is that as soon as you turn on puppetdb you automatically get
host keys distributed to all clients' known hosts file.

I admit, I would never have found shared-puppet-modules-group on gitlab
since I just don't look there.

> The saz one might be better, I never looked at it, but this makes me
> wonder how many different modules would make sense to put in as packages
> in debian...

When I first started packaging, I noticed that the puppet module
packages use the alternatives mechanism to allow for concurrent
installation of multiple modules of the same name and easy switching
between them. So I assumed that the puppet packaging team acknowledges
and supports the idea of having multiple packages provide the same
functionality. Am I wrong?
-- 
Thanks,
Michael