[Apt-Rpm] Aptness -- a simplified interface for libapt-pkg

[João Abecasis]

Richard Hughes wrote:
> On 18/09/2007, João Abecasis <jpra at caixamagica.pt> wrote:
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > I'd like to take a moment of your time to announce Aptness
> > (http://aptness.sf.net/), a new library which aims to provide a
> > simplified library interface on top of libapt-pkg. The stated goal is
> > to make it easier to develop user-level applications on top of Apt.
> > This includes, for instance, update notification applets and custom
> > installers.
>
> Is this designed to be used by, or to compete with, PackageKit[1]? I
> appreciate there are quite different user cases, but there is some
> overlap. There is some code you can look at in PackageKit for apt-rpm
> and libapt-pkg support using ifdefs that might be helpful, assuming
> GPL2 is okay.

I looked into PackageKit and I really like the project and where it's
going. I don't think Aptness competes with PackageKit because we have
different goals. While PackageKit is directed at GUI integration and
generic support for different package installers, Aptness wants to
provide a saner API for libapt-pkg. Potentially, Aptness could be used
by PackageKit.

The license for Aptness is the same as for Apt: GPL, version 2 or
later, so it shouldn't be an issue.

I'll definitely be looking at PackageKit.

Best regards,


João Abecasis