AUTHOR: "Chuck Rhode" <crhode@excel.net>

DATE: 2004-04-29

LICENSE: Public Domain

SYNOPSIS: BLFS Package Dependencies.

DESCRIPTION:
Extract a database of software packages from the BLFS book and order
them in prerequisite installation sequence.

ATTACHMENTS:
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/AuditPackages.py
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/BLFS-Deps.toc
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/DownloadPackages.py
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/HarvestPackages.py
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/InstallPackages.py
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/MaskDonePackages.py
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/PackageDB.py
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/PrerequisitePackages.py
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/ReportPackages.py
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/UninstallPackages.py
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/alllist.txt
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/pkgs.dat
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/xml.sax.expatreader.patch
*
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/attachments/blfs-deps/xml.sax.expatreader.patch.README


PREREQUISITES:
* BLFS 5.0
* python 2.3
* patch for xml.sax.handler (included)

HINT:

Beyond Linux from Scratch 5.0 contains a list of a couple hundred
software packages with installation instructions and code examples.

Packages are cited in prerequisite order. Prerequisites are those
packages that a given package depends on. When installing a given
package, the User must be sure all of its prerequisites have already
been installed. However, not all the preceding packages are necessarily
prerequisite to the given one. The given package may be optional and in
turn may depend on other optional packages. The User is expected to skip
optional packages that he does not need. Prerequisites in turn may have
their own prerequisites. Determining which packages are in the
dependency cascade leading to the given package is non-trivial.

There are many code examples in BLFS. I have written some scripts to
extract the code examples from the BLFS text and build a database of
packages and prerequisites. A User may submit a package name and receive
a script for installing not only the given package but also its
prerequisites in prerequisite order.


    PrerequisitePackages.py

PrerequisitePackages.py sorts and lists the dependency tree for a given
package (or list of packages). For example:

    echo linc > wishlist.txt
    ./PrerequisitePackages.py -W wishlist.txt

... would print the following report:

    # Install packages in this order:
    pkgconfig (pkgconfig-0.15.0)
    GLib2 (GLib-2.2.3)
    openssl (OpenSSL-0.9.7c)
    linc (linc-1.0.3)
    4 packages needed.

All of the parameters are optional:

    ./PrerequisitePackages.py -P pkgs.dat -W wishlist.txt -O wishlist.txt

... would expand the wishlist to include all prerequisites.

    * If omitted, -P defaults to pkgs.dat, the packages database. A
      version of pkgs.dat corresponding to BLFS 5.0 is included in the
      tarball for this hint.
    * If omitted, -W defaults to standard input.
    * If omitted, -O defaults to standard output.

More than one package may be named in wishlist.txt, separated by spaces
or newlines. The package names are the ones in alllist.txt. To see if a
package is in alllist.txt:

    grep -i linc alllist.txt

A version of alllist.txt corresponding to BLFS 5.0 is included in the
tarball for this hint.


    DownloadPackages.py

DownloadPackages.py generates a wget script for downloading the
requisite packages. For example:

    ./DownloadPackages.py -W wishlist.txt -O /usr/src/download.sh

... would place the script in the source library where it could be
executed like this:

    cd /usr/src
    chmod 755 download.sh
    ./download.sh

Here is what the script looks like:

    wget ftp://ftp.netbuddy.org/linux/pkgconfig-0.15.0.tar.gz
    wget ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/v2.2/glib-2.2.3.tar.bz2
    wget ftp://ftp.openssl.org/source/openssl-0.9.7c.tar.gz
    wget ftp://ftp.openssl.org/source/openssl-0.9.7c.tar.gz
    wget ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/linc/1.0/linc-1.0.3.tar.bz2

All of the parameters are optional:

    ./DownloadPackages.py -P pkgs.dat -W wishlist.txt -O download.sh

    * If omitted, -P defaults to pkgs.dat, the packages database.
    * If omitted, -W defaults to standard input. It should be the
      expanded wishlist output by PrerequisitePackages.py.
    * If omitted, -O defaults to standard output. It is a shell script.


    InstallPackages.py

InstallPackages.py generates a script for installing the requisite
packages. For example:

    ./InstallPackages.py -W wishlist.txt -O /usr/src/install.sh

... would place the script in the source library where it could be
executed like this:

    cd /usr/src
    chmod 755 install.sh
    ./install.sh

The script must be edited first, though. It contains install and
configuration code fragments from BLFS. Where alternates are given, all
options have been exhaustively expressed, and you must elide those not
relevant to your installation. As nice as it is not to have to copy
these code fragments from the book, it is not a substitute for reading
and understanding the sections where they are described.

All of the parameters are optional:

    ./InstallPackages.py -P pkgs.dat -W wishlist.txt -O install.sh \
      -S /usr/src

    * If omitted, -P defaults to pkgs.dat, the packages database.
    * If omitted, -W defaults to standard input. It should be the
      expanded wishlist output by PrerequisitePackages.py.
    * If omitted, -O defaults to standard output. It is a shell script.
    * If omitted, -S defaults to /usr/src, the source library.

Once the packages are successfully installed, add their names to the end
of donelist.txt, a permanent file.

    sed "s/ .*\$//" wishlist.txt | sed "s/\$/ /" | sed s/^/\^/ \ 
      > patterns.txt
    grep -f patterns.txt alllist.txt >> donelist.txt

... where wishlist.txt contains the list of packages just recently
installed.

alllist.txt contains the list of all the packages in BLFS. alllist.txt
is included in the tarball for this hint.


    MaskDonePackages.py

The next time after you run PrerequisitePackages.py, you need to remove
the names of the packages in donelist.txt from the output wishlist.txt
to avoid reinstalling them. This may be accomplished with
MaskDonePackages.py. For example:

    ./MaskDonePackages.py -W wishlist.txt -D donelist.txt -O wishlist.txt

... would restrict the wishlist to exclude already installed packages.

All of the parameters are optional:

    * If omitted, -W defaults to standard input. It should be the
      expanded wishlist output by PrerequisitePackages.py.
    * If omitted, -D defaults to donelist.txt.
    * If omitted, -O defaults to standard output.

MaskDonePackages.py does not update donelist.txt.


    UninstallPackages.py

UninstallPackages.py generates a script for uninstalling the requisite
packages.

All of the parameters are optional:

    ./UninstallPackages.py -P pkgs.dat -W wishlist.txt -O uninstall.sh \
      -S /usr/src

    * If omitted, -P defaults to pkgs.dat, the packages database.
    * If omitted, -W defaults to standard input. It should be the list
      of packages to uninstall.
    * If omitted, -O defaults to standard output. It is a shell script.
    * If omitted, -S defaults to /usr/src, the source library.


    PackageDB.py

PackageDB.py defines objects used by the other scripts.


    HarvestPackages.py

HarvestPackages.py extracts a new packages database from the BLFS xml
document.

The tarball for this hint includes pkgs.dat and alllist.txt, which are
derived from BLFS 5.0 with this script and the next two. Unless you plan
to install from a newer version of BLFS, you should not need to run
these scripts. The swindle is that they are not guaranteed to work with
any level of BLFS other than 5.0.

    ./HarvestPackages.py -I index.xml -P pkgs.dat

    * If omitted, -I defaults to ~/BLFS/BOOK/index.xml.
    * If omitted, -P defaults to standard output. It is the new output
      packages database.


    AuditPackages.py

AuditPackages.py identifies any inconsistencies in the database
generated automatically by HarvestPackages.py.

All parameters are optional:

    ./AuditPackages.py -P pkgs.dat -O rept.txt -A -C -U -S -L \
      -I PkgName -F

    * If omitted, -P defaults to pkgs.dat, the packages database.
    * If omitted, -O defaults to standard output. It is a report.
    * -A reports packages that have no tarball.
    * -C reports packages that have no install code fragments.
    * -U reports packages that depend on unknown packages.
    * -S reports packages that are not in a dependency cascade leading
      to any other package.
    * -L lists the names of all packages.
    * -I reports packages that immediately depend on PkgName.
    * -F updates pkgs.dat (in place) with information that could not be
      extracted automatically from BLFS 5.0.


    ReportPackages.py

ReportPackages.py writes a full report of the packages database.

    ./ReportPackages.py -P pkgs.dat -O rept.txt

    * If omitted, -P defaults to pkgs.dat, the packages database.
    * If omitted, -O defaults to standard output. It is a report.


    xml.sax.expatreader.patch

The xml.sax.expatreader.patch for PyXML 0.8.3 or Python 2.3.3 is
required by HarvestPackages.py and is included in the tarball for this
hint. Please do not apply this patch unless you plan to run
HarvestPackages.py. Most people shouldn't need to. To apply the patch,
see xml.sax.expatreader.patch.README.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
* "Joern Abatz" <joern@abatz.de> for depsort hint for BLFS 1.0 2003-09-23
* Zoltan for beta testing.

CHANGELOG:
[2004-04-19]
* First Release.
[2004-04-29]
* Fix DownloadPackages.py to write patch names correctly (per Zoltan).
* Fix PrerequisitePackages.py to suppress duplicates at outer level (per
  Zoltan).
* Stipulate Python 2.3 or better.
* Correct location of attachments in this document.
* Amplify xml.sax.expatreader.patch.README to suggest that Python 2.3.2
  is supported, too.
