On 17 January 2013 22:20, Frank Shearar <frank.shearar at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 17 January 2013 22:14,  <commits at source.squeak.org> wrote:
>> Frank Shearar uploaded a new version of Installer-Core to project The Inbox:
>> http://source.squeak.org/inbox/Installer-Core-fbs.361.mcz
>>
>> ==================== Summary ====================
>>
>> Name: Installer-Core-fbs.361
>> Author: fbs
>> Time: 17 January 2013, 10:14:55.106 pm
>> UUID: 6b44c4f2-631a-46e9-82a1-29df951936b9
>> Ancestors: Installer-Core-bp.360
>>
>> #3 of 3 letting "Installer ss install: 'Foo'" use the local cache repository if possible.
>>
>> If you run "Installer ss3 install: 'CoolWidget-xyz.1.mcz', load it from the cache repository if possible. Otherwise, use the canonical repository.
>>
>> This lets you still use SqueakMap Installer scripts even when you're not connected to the Internet.
>>
>> =============== Diff against Installer-Core-bp.360 ===============
>
> Ultimately I'd like to see "this package is made up of these parts"
> and "this package's parts can be found at these locations" to be
> completely separated.
>
> Providing a canonical location is great, but there are many situations
> where being able to specify the location of the parts is extremely
> useful. Not having an internet connection, for instance, or someone
> using a cache on the LAN.
>
> This change makes a tiny step in that direction by permitting the
> loading of fully specified Monticello artifacts to use the local cache
> in preference to always downloading things.
>
> (One nit: you can already say "install: 'Foo-fbs.1" which does not do
> what you might think: it will load the most recent version whose
> prefix matches - "Foo-fbs.19.mcz", say. If you want a particular
> version, you MUST give the ".mcz" suffix. This change does not alter
> this behaviour: it will simply try load the latest match from the
> union of local and remote versions.)

I think the idea can be generalised slightly. As an example:
SqueakSource is vital to our community. It is also rather unreliable.
There's a Latin American mirror. Wouldn't it be nice if "Installer ss
install: 'Foo'" meant "try install from SqueakSource and, if you
can't, try the LatAm mirror instead.".

So while you look at this and hopefully think it's not too rubbish,
I'll go off and think about an InstallerWithFailover.

frank