Re: [OctDev] rpm packaging of octave packages

[Philip Nienhuis]

Orion Poplawski wrote:
> I'm starting to take a look at creating a standard method of building rpms of
> octave packages for Fedora.  I'm starting with the old octave-forge package as
> a starting point.
:
<snip>
:
> Finally, when a user tries to remove and rpm install octave package, they get:
>
> octave:3>  pkg uninstall octcdf
> warning: some of the packages you want to uninstall are not installed
>
> which does not seem correct.
>
> Thoughts?

Perhaps no answer to your question but I can share some user experiences.

This (warning messages) is what I also see when I try to 
uninstall/install (renew/update) individual octave-forge packages in 
Mandriva (2010.1).
Mandriva has made renewal/updating individual octave-forge packages a 
cumbersome process, with unexpected dependencies all over the place, 
perhaps due to the still "monolithic" character of its octave-forge rpm, 
and rpm and (octave's) pkg stepping onto each other's toes.

Hopefully you can make it much easier for Fedora users, up to the point 
that rpm isn't needed (or only needed for initial installation), i.e., 
so that just Octave's pkg command will do. (I'd prefer pkg over rpm in 
this case.)
I think development of octave-forge packages proceeds more rapidly than 
rpm's can be built, tested & updated - if you automate building rpms 
from individual octave-forge packages this can be alleviated a bit.
Thus either Q-control by Fedora will be hampered, or octave users will 
be withheld a bit from trying the newest octave-forge packages (in turn, 
hampering package development) if they must wait until tested rpms 
become available.

FYI, "pkg" has an option "forge" that will d/l & install octave-forge 
packages directly from octave.sf.net. Permissions (root) may interfere 
when packages go into /usr/[local/]share, but that's probably resolvable.

P.