margolese  | 2007-09-09
Ambitious objectives - are we there yet?
The Smart Package manager, started with the ambitious objective of creating smart and portable algorithms for solving the problem of managing software upgrades and installations. The tool is aimed to work on all major distributions, and is hoped to bring some major advantages over the tools currently in use. This project, unfortunately, is not a magical bridge over the troubled waters that splits every distribution on the planet. Instead, it offers somewhat better package management for this distributions, even on their own packages. Among the features, I have noted that Smart Package Manager has an implemented built in support for removable media. Not sure if all the channel types are included, but I didn’t encounter any problems here. Also, the downloading mechanism has a fast parallel downloading system, that allows multiple connections to be used for one or more sites. Also, it’s been developed to be modular and flexible, so the entire backend-based and package-manager-agnostic system is currently implemented for RPM, DPKG and Slackware package management system, and the porting to new systems should not provide a tough challenge. So, the answer to the question in the title is, no, we still have to wait a little for the magical tool. But Smart Package Manager has the necessary potential.