I have created some "fake" RPMs at
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/RedDwarf:/freespace/openSUSE_11.2/ to test a new way to install Freespace 2. Despiste the path, it should work in any RPM-based system (it would work even in DPKG/DEB-based systems, just that they would have a database for Freespace data different to the system's package database).
"Fake" because they don't contain any payload (data). Not that I have anything against real RPMs, it's just that then I would need mirrors to host the data files in a Linux specific way*(1) and I want to be able to use the mirrors that already are hosting them in zip/rar. To obtain the data they have a pre install script that handles the download.
What's the thing? Well,
- RPMs have dependency information. So when you install fsport it will automatically also download/install the missions. And will propose to install the fsport media VPs.
- RPMs integrate well in the system
* Now the system knows about your Freespace data. You can check all your installed files are fine (in Linux every installed file in registered in a database that contains MD5, modification time, etc.) and uninstall/update any of them through the system Windows "Add/Remove Programs" Linux equivalent interface
* When The FreeSpace Upgrade Project releases a new version of its MediaVPs the update will be advertised to the user as any other system update.
- The RPMs and repository metadata are signed. So users can be sure they are downloading the correct data
- The data is downloaded through metalinks. Thus they can be downloaded from multiple mirrors, improving download speed and/or balancing the charge between mirros. And the downloaded files are automatically checked for corruption (and if there were a download error just the corrupted part would be redownloaded, not the full file)
- The files are automatically installed in the correct path (not more people putting mods VP files in the root)
- It contains info about how much space it will use once uncompressed/installed
I write this because I would like people to test it. But also because I would want some help from the people that uploads that data.
I created my own metalink links and hosted them in my ISP provided host space. But it's the first time I use that host space... no idea if it has any bandwidth limits or if it's reliable. And anyway, thos files will get outdated when people updates it's data without me knowing. What I ask is people to start using metalinks themselfs when uploading a new mod. Instead of give a direct link the the file give a link to the metalink.
Metalink is a great format, supported by a lot of apps in a lot of OSes (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalink). It will allow to use mirrors, users to automatically use their nearest mirror, downloads to be automatically checked for errors, etc.
It would be great if an official Freespace data repository, where people puts its new/updated MODs, would be created. Instead of I creating RPMs in my home openSUSE repository just for a few MODs in a way that will never be in sync with the real data.
As an end note. I never tested, but I think rpm works in Windows. Creating a nice GUI to it you could have the same in Windows. An
http://www.fsoinstaller.com/ but with dependency information and data integrity checks. That way we could use *real* RPMs in all the systems.
*(1) OK, not so Linux-specific. I'm sure WinRAR and tens others Windows "compressed-files managers" can handle RPMs files as well of zips, rars or 7zips. Since RPMs today use LZMA/XZ that would even reduce the download size comparing it to zip/rar. But I'm also sure that I will never convince Windows people, that probably are the most, to start using RPM when they upload their data.
