Subversion Repositories SvarDOS

Package files provide an easy way to manage software on SvarDOS. These
packages must adhere to a strict convention so they can be handled properly
by the SvarDOS package manager.


%hPackage filenames

Packages names must follow some basic rules. They shall be max. 8 letters long
(but should not be too short either, since a 1 or 2-letters package name might
be confusing), and must not be composed of characters other than a-b, 0-9 and
'_'. This for backward compatibility with short file names (8+3) and ISO 9660
file systems (used on CDROMs). The package filename is always followed by the
.SVP ("SvarDOS Package") extension.


%hPackage files

SvarDOS uses ZIP files as its package file format. This format has been chosen
because ZIP files under DOS have become the de facto way to distribute
collections of files. Also, the ZIP file format is well documented, well
supported, and in the public domain.

Here below is the recommended command line that can be used to create a
package for a program named EXAMPLE using info-zip:

  zip -9rkDX EXAMPLE.SVP subdir1 subdir2 ... subdirN

If you are using 7za to create your packages, then use this:

  7za a -mm=deflate -mx=9 -tzip EXAMPLE.SVP subdir1 subdir2 ... subdirN


%hPackage directory structure

The directory structure of a package depends on the type of packages.
For "core" packages, we have this:

  APPINFO            Put the program's LSM file here
  BIN                Binaries, such as exe and com files
  DOC\PKGNAME        Package documentation
  HELP               Used ONLY by the "help" package
  NLS\PKGNAME        Localizations (NLS language files) of the package

Non-core packages use a slightly different directory organization. For
example, if we were to consider a package FOO, we might end up with the
following structure:

  APPINFO\FOO.LSM    Package meta file for the FOO program
  PROGS\FOO\FOO.EXE  The program's executable
  PROGS\FOO\FOO.TXT  Some documentation
  PROGS\FOO\FILE.DAT Data file used by the FOO program

Note the PROGS directory above. This is the category to which the package
belongs. The package installer might change this directory at install time,
depending on the user's preferences. Possible categories are listed below:

Category | Description
DEVEL    | Development tools (mostly compilers)
DRIVERS  | Drivers
GAMES    | Games
PROGS    | User programs, tools...

Note: "DOC", "NLS", "BIN" and "HELP" directories are strictly reserved to
      CORE packages.


%hLSM meta-data files

Every package MUST contain an LSM file in its "APPINFO" directory. This LSM
file is a text file that contains basic information about the package. Its
format is very simple, it must contain at least two lines:

  version: x.y.z
  description: package description

Any other lines are ignored by the SvarDOS package manager.


%hPackage versions

The version present in the LSM file is meant to reflect the version of the
packaged software, but it may happen that a package needs to be changed to
fix a strictly packaging-related issue (for example a forgotten documentation
file or a recompilation of the binary using a better set of flags...). In such
case, the version of the software does not change, but the version of the
package itself needs to change so users know something changed. That's where
"SvarDOS revisions" come in. A version string is basically following such
format:

  UPSTREAM_VER[+SVARREV]

UPSTREAM_VER is the exact version string advertised by the software. It may
be pretty much anything. This upstream version may be optionally followed by a
plus sign and the SvarDOS revision. In the event that the upstream version
already contains a plus sign, then SvarDOS revision is delimited with a tilde.

The SvarDOS revision starts at 0 and increments by 1 each time that the given
upstream revision is repackaged. The SvarDOS revision restarts whenever the
upstream version changes. The SvarDOS revision of 0 is always hidden.

Examples:

FDISK 1.54      <- originally packaged version
FDISK 1.54+1    <- package has been changed, but not the upstream version
FDISK 1.55      <- upstream version increased, so SvarDOS rev restarts
FDISK 1.55+1    <- new version of the package, but still contains FDISK 1.55
FDISK 1.55+2    <- another new version of the package, etc

The entire version string of a package must never exceed 16 characters.


%hSources

When a packaged software has its sources available, then it is recommended to
archive also them. To that effect, put the sources into a ZIP archive that has
the same filename as the package, but a *.ZIP extension (as opposed to the
*.SVP extension of the proper package). The result would be that the packaged
software would be distributed within two files. Example for FDISK:

FDISK.SVP       <- binaries (ZIP archive following the SVP structure)
FDISK.ZIP       <- sources (flat, unstructured ZIP archive)

The ZIP file must obviously contain the source code that belongs to the exact
same version present in the SVP package.