Repository conflicts and new smart package manager

[Dag Wieers]

Hi there,

I'm very pleased to be able to announce you a new solution to manage 
packages and repositories. The new Smart package manager is able to let 
you use different repositories that were not designed to work together. 
Which was a recurring complaint on this and many other mailinglists.

You can prioritize repositories or prioritize packages and Smart will 
handle the conflicts and make a decision based on what's available. It 
includes a command-line utility (smart) and a GUI that resembles synaptic 
(smart-gui).

Smart was written by Gustavo Niemeyer from Conectiva (the same guy that 
ported apt to rpm and caused the RPM repository revolution). I have made 
Fedora Core 3 packages (smart and smart-gui) that you can install from apt 
or yum or if you do not have my repository included, manually from:

	http://dag.wieers.com/packages/smart/

Smart fixes many of the problems we know with the current package 
managers. There's a document that explains how it works, what it fixes and 
includes screenshots for when you're interested but not convinced :) The 
website is at:

	http://www.smartpm.org/

(There are also packages for Fedora Core 3 on that website, but they don't 
include a plugin to allow packages to add repositories automatically.)

My current packages come with 13 repositories preconfigured and enabled 
by default with a preset priority for each. And it has been working very 
well for me the last 24h.

If you do have problems, fixes or suggestions, let us know. Enjoy !

--   dag wieers,  dag at wieers.com,  http://dag.wieers.com/   --
[all I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power]