apt-get front end

[jim@mercury.laney.edu]

> 
> Date:    Tue, 29 Jun 1999 19:11:13 PDT
> To:      Jim Franklin <jfranklin@etworld.com>
> cc:      Bay Area Debian <bad@kitenet.net>
> From:    Rick Moen <rick@hugin.imat.com>
> Subject: Re: apt-get front end
> 
> Quoting Jim Franklin (jfranklin@etworld.com):
> 
> >   Does anyone know what apt is going to look like on the front end?
> 
> Is that even decided?  You can now use apt (0.3.9) in the sense of being a
> method for dselect, but Ben and whoever else is on the APT Development
> Team would have to tell you what it'll eventually look like.

Has it been decided? OhYeah :) long, -long- ago :) The user interface
was done and specified first, before apt-get existed. See below.

> In case anyone cares, and hasn't already tried it for himself, I've
> temporarily put up a desktop screenshot at
> http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/gnome-apt.jpeg of the current gnome-apt
> front-end application, which on first read I thought you were asking
> about.

Actually, I can provide the correct history here, since I have a feeling
ppl might care. The user interface for apt (NOT apt-get) was specified and
developed first. I watched Martin Shultze on #debian while he was working on
                           ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ (oops: Jason Gunthorpe, rather)
the user interface and writing the widgets (Or was it Ben who wrote the 
widgets? I forget now...) 

Point is, the user interface was specified and coded -long- before apt came
out. And no, this has nothing to do with gnome-apt (which is cool in and of
itself, but the original interface had some loftier goals: web page. X app,
curses/slang app in the same binary! 

I think I remember something about dropping the web interface.

If you get the source package (comes in 2 or 3 files), you will note by a
perusal of the makefiles that apt -is- built, then deleted (since it's not
ready yet). You can look at it, I think, by causing the package makefiles 
to not delete it, then build the package and install it.

it's not ready tho :) so please don't expect it to do anything... like work...

-Jim