I have been mostly programming in Perl for the last three years. Thanks to CPAN and the acquired experience I can get quite a bit done in a short amount of time. Now I am thinking about working in Python and C++ again and the lack of a CPAN equivalent is distressing.
So, I have started to think about a tool for those that want to create services like CPAN. The basic features are
- HTTP accessible archive of modules for both human
and
machine.
- Modules have type, version, and dependencies.
Perhaps a
general set of named attributes.
- Contributions can be upgraded directly by
contributor
and maintainer.
- Contributions can be downgraded directly by
contributor
and maintainer.
- Sites can be mirrored easily.
- Module installation registry on local host.
- Simple command line tool for incorporating new
modules
into an installation.
- Simple command line tool for incorporating upgraded
and
downgraded modules into an installation.
As a general tool perhaps the most you could is to coordinate the archive's content with a local and limited copy of it, and then coordinate the incorporation of the local modules into some default base installation. (SWIG has done a great job over the years at unifying the creation of C and C++ extensions for scripting languages. I am sure there is much experience and advice here we need to keep in mind.)
Anyway, it would be nice to have something to offer the Python, C++, Ruby, JavaScript, etc communities.
Before going further I really should see what CPAN has.