>
> The user then installs "Keith's Favorites" just as if it were a normal
> package.  The package tool will select the latest available [1] version of
> all the packages "Keith's Favorites" depends on.
>
> So the question is, do you need anything more for installation
> scripts, than the above?  I thought maybe you were working on
> dependencies, but you say no.
>
>
> -Lex
>   
I have found during development that things get a bit confusing where 
different people are updating packages simultaneously with their own 
fixes etc. I feel (perhaps irrationally) that I need fine grained 
control as to what package exactly I have loaded, and in what order and 
with what settings or configuration.

It may just be a psychological thing that I don't have confidence in 
such a high level automated process that does it all for me.

All that Installer does is to make the details as explicit and as clear 
as possible. It also allows me to select and doit (or fork) parts of the 
script. It allows me to query the repositories to work out which bits I 
need as I go, and it allows me to comment out or omit the parts that I 
do not want. (this is useful in a situation where you wish to add some 
things to a package in a repository and one of the other packages in the 
normal installation process would overwrite portions of that package. 
You can omit the second package temporarily).

Finally having got a setup that works, it is possible to publish it, by 
publishing the script as is on a web page.

I was looking at the dev image yesterday and even there the level of 
automated complexity leaves me feeling that I have lost control of my 
image, I don't know what is there or what it all does, so it will take a 
bit of getting used to.

As far as dependencies go, in the development process I am not always 
sure that the dependencies have been fully worked out, and I would find 
it annoying if the system starts to load bits that I dont want. 
Installer simply gives you that control, and unlike other similar 
solutions it aims to be part of a workspace (or ScriptManager)

Keith






		
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