[Newbies] package browsers

[Michael van der Gulik]

Nick Ager wrote:

> Hi,
>
> What is the difference between the "Package Universe Browser" and
> "SqueakMap Package Loader"?
>
> On a related question, I'm trying to understand the difference between
> packages listed in SqueakMap/Universe Browser and those listed in the
> "Monticello Browser". I understand that Monticello is a version
> control system which contains the latest although not necessarly
> stable release code whereas the packages listed in SqueakMap/Universe
> Browser should link to stable releases of the code. Is this
> understanding correct? Is packaging part of an image release cycle or
> a separate process?

Okay; for starters, it's all a big mess. That's what you get with lots 
of contributers with lots of ideas. I don't think the mess is a bad 
thing; good ideas will survive and bad ideas will eventually be replaced.

SqueakMap is a published list of packages that has been in Squeak from 
3.4 through to 3.9. The idea is that you can just download and install a 
package easily from within the SqueakMap browser. Unfortunately, there's 
no guarantee that the package you select will work with the version of 
Squeak you're running.

The Universe Browser is new in 3.10, and follows the same idea, but now 
the packages in a "universe" are known to work together well. For 
example, there's a "3.10" universe, that, in theory, you should be able 
to load and use any package from. That's the extent of my knowledge.

Like you say, Monticello is a version control tool where each "version" 
is a package file (with the extension ".mcz"). While it can load 
packages, that's not its intention. It only stores the locations of 
available repositories for a package as a convenience to the developer.

Michael.