[gdal-dev] ANN: Apt commandline installer for OSGeo4W now at v0.0-2

[Matt Wilkie]

Hello World,

Apt.py v0.0-2, the command line osgeo4w installer, is now available. It
can  be found under Commandline Utilities in the GUI setup.exe installer 
or from svn.
    http://download.osgeo.org/osgeo4w/               "OSGeo4W Installer"
    http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo4w/browser/trunk/apt  "apt.py"

First time use from within a CMD shell where python is available and 
osgeo4w is not installed:

    set OSGEO4W_ROOT=C:\OSGeo4W	(or wherever)

    python apt.py setup		(create install.db, fetch setup.ini)
    python apt.py install msvcrt	(minimal skeleton osgeo4w install)

After that or on a system where osgeo4w has already been installed:

    apt update		(fetch up-to-date setup.ini)
    apt install xxx 	(install package 'xxx', e.g. gdal)
    apt new		(show possible upgrades)
    apt list		(show installed packages)
    apt available	(show installation candidates)
    apt remove xxx	(uninstall package 'xxx')


For a completely virgin system (no osgeo4w, no python) see
http://code.google.com/p/maphew/wiki/OsgeoFromScratch


Changes since v0-0.1:

     * much better package removal (though still misses .tmpl files in
./bin and start menu shortcuts)
     * new command "apt available" shows packages which could be
installed (previously one had to know the name already)
     * download percentage counter no longer reports >100% recieved


Apt.py and setup.exe use the same install database and procedures
(though not code). One can switch between them at will depending on the
needs of the moment. Configure setup.exe's cache directory to
C:\Osgeo4W\var\cache\setup to avoid duplicating downloads. I would of
course expect problems were both to run at the same time.

I've been using apt.py without significant issues for over a year,
nevertheless I still consider this alpha software. This is my first real
   software development project and I've no training whatsoever. The only
reason it works at all is because the original author, Jan
Nieuwenhuizen, knew what he was doing when he wrote cyg-apt for cygwin.

The biggest functional problem is that uninstall is not yet
comprehensive. There is little error trapping and not enough feedback on
commands. For example "apt remove" just silently exits back to the shell
prompt when it should respond with a usage message ("apt remove
[package_name]"), at the least.

Feedback is welcome, especially on programming advice! Please use the
o4w trac for logging bugs.

Enjoy!

-- 
matt wilkie
--------------------------------------------
Geomatics Analyst
Information Management and Technology
Yukon Department of Environment
10 Burns Road * Whitehorse, Yukon * Y1A 4Y9
867-667-8133 Tel * 867-393-7003 Fax
http://environmentyukon.gov.yk.ca/geomatics/
--------------------------------------------