[plt-scheme] PlaneT, plts and distributing software.

I'm kinda with pupeno on that one. Retrieveing the code from PLaneT
cache is a possible solution, but it feels like a hack (and until this
thread I didn't see any written documentation about the location of
this cache..[1]), so I think writing and distributing a small script
that will connect to PLaneT, download the package you want and install
it as a collect, would be extremely usefull (I would do it myself if
any of you redirect me to some documentation on the inside of the
planet system).

While we're at it, I think it will also be extremly usefull to add the
<path-of-main-file>/collects to the
current-library-collection-paths[2] list, as a default, or as a
commandline switch, or whatever. It will make it much easier to
distribute standalone (but not compiled) PLT code.

As for why not to "just use planet" - I think PLaneT is extremly cool,
and could be very usefull when developing code, but just not reliable
enough inorder to distribute code that requires direcly from it - if I
can't control the server, I'm not going to use it.


Yoav

[1] Maybe there's documentation on the HelpDesk, I never use the
HelpDesk because it uses to much memory for my computer, and it has a
really tiny font for my eyes. I rely on the web for documentation.
[2] What I currently do is to "load" a file that does just that on the
top of my "main file", but I think that system support for it will be
nicer. (The method I use prevents my main module from being "required"
from somewhere else as a module).


On 10/25/05, Noel Welsh <noelwelsh at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> --- Pupeno <pupeno at pupeno.com> wrote:
>
> > I know that, but I do not want to do that, I don't want
> > drscheme to download
> > anything, I want to download them myself and install it.
>
> That's easy.  PLT Scheme comes with a tool called mzscheme
> that you can use for downloading files from Planet.  Run it
> and type in the line:
>
>  (require (planet "test.ss" ("schematics" "schemeunit.plt"
> 1 1)))
>
> This will download the .plt, extract it, and leave it in a
> directory under ~/.plt-scheme/planet, in this case the
> directory
>
>
> ~/.plt-scheme/planet/300/cache/schematics/schemeunit.plt/1/1/
>
> You can then copy it to wherever you desire.
>
> > Furthermore, I want to read the source code.
>
> The source is in the directory the mzscheme tool creates.
>
> > Furthermore, I want to package it as a .deb or .ebuild or
> > I won't put it on my servers.
>
> Go for it.
>
> Seriously, it is a bit farcical to not use the tools
> provided (and hence my farcical response).  Planet and
> .plts works across more platforms that PLT targets than
> Debian or Portage does (and in particular on Windows).  You
> can't seriously expect PLT to distribute their packages
> using, say, the Debian system.  If you have a need to use
> Debian or Portage I'm sure you can find a way to integrate
> Planet with either (perhaps by writing a custom Planet
> server), but I don't think you should use that as a reason
> to not use Planet or .plts
>
> Cheers,
> Noel
>
> Email: noelwelsh <at> yahoo <dot> com   noel <at> untyped <dot> com
> AIM: noelhwelsh
> Blogs: http://monospaced.blogspot.com/  http://www.untyped.com/untyping/
>
>
>
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