rpa-base 0.2.1pre1 is now available at http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org .
Many of the most popular libraries/applications as per Rubyforge
statistics (rails, rake, redcloth, activerecord, sqlite, log4r, copland,
ruvi, to name a few) have been packaged for use with rpa-base 0.2.1pre1.
You can find a list of the 100+ packages at
http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Packaged_Software
Screenshots and animations can be found at
http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Rpa_Base_In_Action
rpa-base 0.2.1pre1 fixes some issues in the bootstrapping phase, which
couldn't hence be solved through the normal self-upgrade mechanism.
In addition to several other bugfixes, 0.2.1pre1 features better proxy
support, isolation of unit tests run automatically when installing a
lib/app, and improvements in the command-line tool.
Foreword
···
--------
The Ruby Production Archive (RPA) will provide packages of Ruby
libraries and programs in a form that allows production use, engineered
through a stringent process resembling FreeBSD's or Debian's.
rpa-base is a port/package manager designed to support RPA. Its scope and
purposes are different to those of other systems like RubyGems.
Features
rpa-base is a port/package manager designed to support RPA's client-side
package management. You can think of it as RPA's apt-get + dpkg. It
features the following as of 0.2.1pre1:
* strong dependency management: rpa-base installs dependencies as needed,
keeps track of reverse dependencies on uninstall, and will remove no
longer needed dependencies
* atomic (de)installs: operations on the local RPA installation are atomic
transactions; the system has been designed to survive ruby crashes (OS
crashes too on POSIX systems)
* parallel installs: you can install several ports in parallel; builds
will be parallelized and the final phase will be serialized properly
* self-hosting: rpa-base installs and updates itself
* modular, extensible design: the 2-phase install is similar to FreeBSD and
Debian's package creation; rpa-base packages need not be restricted
to installing everything under a single directory ("1 package, 1 dir"
paradigm)
* rdoc integration: RDoc documentation for libraries is generated at install
time (currently disabled on win32)
* ri integration: ri data files are generated for all the libraries managed
by RPA; you can access this information with ri-rpa
* handling C extensions: if you have the required C toolchain, rpa-base can
compile extensions as needed
* unit testing: when a library is installed, its unit tests are run; the
installation is canceled if they don't pass
Several of the above features are illustrated in the screenshots and
animations available at
http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?Rpa_Base_In_Action
Limitations:
A number of features have been pushed back to 0.3.0:
* full support for binary platform-specific packages
* signed packages/ports
* system-wide configuration system
* better user interface
In practice, the first one is the most limiting at the moment since it means
that win32 users in particular need a working C toolchain to install
extensions. This will soon be addressed.
Status
------
Please keep in mind that RPA is at an embryonic stage; this means that
it is impossible to commit to all the long term goals stated in the
manifesto (http://rpa-base.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.cgi?RpaManifesto) at
the moment. This doesn't make rpa-base any less usable however.
rpa-base requires Ruby 1.8.[12] (certainly 1.8 at least, it might work
on 1.8.0); it has been tested on several Linux distributions (Debian,
Fedora, older RH, Gentoo, etc), FreeBSD, DragonFly BSD, Mac OSX, win32
(cygwin, 'pragmatic installer', WinXP and 2K).
rpa-base is fairly stable at this stage; it has been tested on several
platforms during the last 2 1/2 months. Since rpa-base can self-update,
eventual bugs discovered through the intensive testing associated with
a public release could be solved easily by upgrading rpa-base using
rpa-base itself.
We would appreciate any feedback on rpa-base.
A mailing list has been set up for that purpose:
http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rpa-base-testers
RPA needs your help
RPA is an ambitious project in need for developers. These are some of the
areas that need to be worked on:
* packaging (new software and package maintenance)
* setting up a permanent repository infrastructure
* cross-compilation and build automation
* website development (should provide package indexes, QA section,
bugtracking, etc)
Please contact me at <batsman.geo@yahoo.com> (adding RPA to the subject
will help get it past the spam filtering 
or via IRC, batsman @
#ruby-lang on freenode.net if you have any interest or for any additional
information on RPA/rpa-base and their goals.
--
Running Debian GNU/Linux Sid (unstable)
batsman dot geo at yahoo dot com
or via
