[Gambas-user] Feature suggestion: GAMBAS optional runtime auto-update

[Kevin Fishburne]

In the interest of accessibility to a stable version of the GAMBAS 
runtime without requiring users to add a PPA or drop to the command 
line, I think it may be useful to add an "auto-update" feature or 
equivalent.

Currently users have three ways to install GAMBAS: (1) Install from 
their distro's package manager, (2) add the stable or daily PPA, and (3) 
compile from source. Users who will be using GAMBAS to program will have 
no trouble using any of these methods. Users who simply need the runtime 
to use a GAMBAS application however may require a dead-simple method, as 
they could in theory be the mythical Grandmother.

Another problem is that the specific build of GAMBAS packaged with many 
distros is outdated or unstable. I can create a GAMBAS application using 
the stable PPA, create an installation package, distribute it, and users 
who install it may not be able to run the program because their distro's 
GAMBAS build is too old.

I don't know the best solution to these problems, though I can think of 
some possibilities:

Add an option when creating an installation package to prompt the user 
to install dependencies from the stable PPA or from source. When the 
user begins to install the package, a script will be run that prompts 
them if they'd like to install updated runtime dependencies with the 
default answer being Yes. Whether the PPA or sources are used depends on 
the option chosen when building the installation package.

Another possibility is to have an option when creating an installation 
package that includes the runtime dependencies of the dev's build 
environment. Instead of the package pulling dependencies from the target 
system's repositories it would simply use the included packages. I know 
that's not the Linux or GAMBAS way, but it's better than using old 
GAMBAS packages in the user's repositories that may not work at all. 
Remember, these solutions are for users that either don't know or don't 
want to know the "right" way to do things, they just want to run the 
program.

Yet another possibility is to have an option when creating an 
installation package that would cause the execution of the installed 
application itself to check the installed runtime dependencies (if any) 
against the stable PPA's runtime dependencies and prompt the user to 
update if there is a discrepancy. It could even add the PPA, install the 
dependencies, then remove the PPA.

Solutions requiring the automatic compilation from source would be more 
difficult, as the target environment would need to be set up with build 
tools first. Solutions adding a PPA would be easier assuming the target 
environment's distribution version was supported by the PPA. I don't 
know how reliable the solution including the developer's runtime 
dependencies would be.

IMHO for GAMBAS to properly dominate the world, installing a GAMBAS 
program really should be as easy as double-clicking a .deb/.rpm and 
clicking Next, Next, etc. So, is this a problem worth solving, and if 
so, what does everything think the best solution would be?

-- 
Kevin Fishburne
Eight Virtues
www: http://sales.eightvirtues.com
e-mail: sales at ...1887...
phone: (770) 853-6271