format-specific configuration

[yakubin]

Currently all configuration in pkg.toml applies to all formats. This is problematic for dependencies (requires, provides, conflicts, replaces), because some dependencies are named differently on different distros. For example, applications written in Rust depend on a library which is packaged as libgcc1 on Debian, as libgcc on Fedora, and as gcc-libs on Arch Linux. Thus, if one wants to package an application that requires such a library, one needs to either use a macro system (such as m4), write a shell script using cat to concatenate different files into a single pkg.toml, or write a completely different pkg.toml for each distro (with a lot of duplicated parts which need to be updated in the future, laying ground for a slip-up). None of those seem particularly appealing to me.

Additionally, I'm planning on implementing a way to change the value for repo section for Debian packages. Currently it's hardcoded to misc. It applies only to Debian packages, so it would make sense to place it in a Debian-only section.

I think that some format-specific configuration could be useful. I'm thinking of something like this:

[package]
name    = "example-package"
version = "1.2.5"
epoch   = 2
release = 3
description = "An example package"
author      = "Jane Doe <[email protected]>"
requires    = [ "common-requires >= 2.0" ]
provides    = [ "common-provides = 1.2" ]
conflicts   = [ "common-conflicts" ]
replaces    = [ "common-replaces" ]

[package.debian]
requires    = [ "additional-debian-requires >= 2.0" ]
provides    = [ "additional-debian-provides = 1.2" ]
conflicts   = [ "additional-debian-conflicts" ]
replaces    = [ "additional-debian-replaces" ]
section     = "utils"

[package.rpm]
requires    = [ "additional-rpm-requires >= 2.0" ]
provides    = [ "additional-rpm-provides = 1.2" ]
conflicts   = [ "additional-rpm-conflicts" ]
replaces    = [ "additional-rpm-replaces" ]

[package.pacman]
requires    = [ "additional-pacman-requires >= 2.0" ]
provides    = [ "additional-pacman-provides = 1.2" ]
conflicts   = [ "additional-pacman-conflicts" ]
replaces    = [ "additional-pacman-replaces" ]

This way holo-build could produce packages with the following dependencies, depending on the output format:

Format	Requires
Debian	[ "common-requires >= 2.0", "additional-debian-requires >= 2.0" ]
RPM	[ "common-requires >= 2.0", "additional-rpm-requires >= 2.0" ]
Pacman	[ "common-requires >= 2.0", "additional-pacman-requires >= 2.0" ]

Format	Provides
Debian	[ "common-provides = 1.2", "additional-debian-provides = 1.2" ]
RPM	[ "common-provides = 1.2", "additional-rpm-provides = 1.2" ]
Pacman	[ "common-provides = 1.2", "additional-pacman-provides = 1.2" ]

Format	Conflicts
Debian	[ "common-conflicts", "additional-debian-conflicts" ]
RPM	[ "common-conflicts", "additional-debian-conflicts" ]
Pacman	[ "common-conflicts", "additional-debian-conflicts" ]

Format	Replaces
Debian	[ "common-replaces", "additional-debian-replaces" ]
RPM	[ "common-replaces", "additional-rpm-replaces" ]
Pacman	[ "common-replaces", "additional-pacman-replaces" ]

And the section key is placed in Debian's section, as it's a Debian-specific option.

Is that acceptable?

[yakubin]

Any updates? Does starting work on this feature make sense?