[Soc-coordination] Looking for a mentor

[Manoj Srivastava]

On Sat, Mar 21 2009, Chris Oliver wrote:

> I am a sophmore computer science major in need of a mentor for a
> project I would like to work on with Debian. I have started a project
> called Keryx in an attempt to develop a tool capable of browsing all
> available packages much like Synaptic that is cross-platform allowing
> users to download packages, dependencies and updates from any computer
> to a flash drive. This can help users who perform updates on machines
> without internet connections, dialup users, and provides an
> alternative to APTonCD by giving users the ability to use common flash
> drives easily without having to reburn CDs. It is still a _very_ alpha

        What criteria are you thinking of using to determine which
 packages would be required on the non-networked machine? That would be
 the crux of the problem (aptitude --download-only install; cp
 /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb over (after determining how much space is
 available at the destination) would be straightforward then.

> application and needs a lot of work. I plan on rewriting it from
> scratch, creating an API that would be able to be used with multiple
> interfaces, command-line and GUI. I plan on supporting package
> installation as well, which can be done several different ways, but I
> am not for sure which would be the best route yet. You can check it
> out here: http://keryxproject.org

        You might be interested in checking out apt-zip. 
,----[ apt-zip ]
| Description: Update a non-networked computer using apt and removable media
|  These scripts simplify the process of using dselect and apt on a
|  non-networked Debian box, using removable media like ZIP floppies and
|  USB keys.
|  One generates a `fetch' script (supporting backends such as wget and
|  lftp, in a modular, extensible way) to be run on a host with better
|  connectivity, check space constraints of your removable media, and
|  then install the package on your Debian box.
| Homepage: http://alioth.debian.org/projects/apt-zip
`----

        This works somewhat differently than Keryx; in that apt-zip
 runs on the non-networked computer (and thus has an idea of what
 versions of things it has) generates a script to be run on a better
 networked computer, and does size checks of the usb media. (it is
 unclear to me how the non-networked computer runs the equivalent of an
 aptitude update).


        It does not seem to have a graphical interface.

        manoj
-- 
Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish or a sparrow fall.
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta at acm.org> <http://www.golden-gryphon.com/>  
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