[racket] Installer vs PPA (was: Graphics Issues in Ubuntu 11.10)

Just now, Todd O'Bryan wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 10:14 PM, Eli Barzilay <eli at barzilay.org> wrote:
> > If there are other people who want just that, then I can probably
> > extend the installer so that it will also install a script that
> > will retrieve a new version and replace the installation directory
> > with it.  This can be as easy as remembering the answers to the
> > questions that the installer ask in some file like
> > ~/.racket/insaller-answers -- so after you install it once,
> > running a newer installer will use the previous answers
> > automatically.
> 
> Be careful, though. I sudo install in a directory non-admins don't
> have access to, so trying to install a newer version whenever any
> user runs DrRacket and a newer version is available would create
> bunches of dialog boxes all over my lab, mostly on the screens of
> people who can't actually do anything about upgrading.

Yeah, it will only make sense to do such an upgrade from the same
user, so I'm *not* suggesting to have some wrapper script that will
check for updates everytime you run drracket...


> That said, what you're suggesting would be nice.

(I'll see if there's any demand for it...)


> I don't know about other people, but the major reason that I prefer
> the package system is two-fold: dependency resolution and
> auto-upgrading. If you can handle those two problems, I don't care
> how or where you get installed. (OK, it would be nice to have file
> icons, a menu entry, and have double-clicking .rkt files know to use
> DrRacket, but I have to do those manually, now.)

Yeah, I need to do that too.  That should go into the main code
though, which means that the files should be placed in the right
positions even if you compile from (our) source.  I've looked into it
a while ago, and some 3rd-party packagers that I asked said that it's
best to avoid it and leave it for OS-specific patches.  But since then
it looks like the location and format of these files is standard
enough that it's good to make our code add these files.  (And as a
result it will make the work left for 3rd-party packagers easier, at
least if I do it properly.)

-- 
          ((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x)))          Eli Barzilay:
                    http://barzilay.org/                   Maze is Life!