[erlang-questions] Erlang package manager

[Thomas Lindgren]

>From the replies, it seems to me like you first of all should take the best practices of OS package managers into account, so I'll skip that part. Instead, I'm interested in whether there are any erlang-specific features that should be catered to. I don't have a solution for these issues, so just consider it a wishlist.
Statically, it would be useful to programmatically or automatically assemble packages into releases, including distributed releases. Then easily distribute the release(s) and start the nodes.
It would also be nice if we could do erlang-style hot upgrades in this framework. Some possible issues then come to mind:    
   - a nice way to handle appup files (and, in the longer term, a nicer way to write them than today)   

   - a nice way to handle & build/install linked in drivers (ideally, detecting and managing any possible conflicts)
   - databases and upgrading their contents in some standard way, preferrably without stopping the world
   - possibly also detecting or even handling name clashes of registered processes, module names, etc
(Issues 2 and 4 also apply to the static case.)
Best,Thomas
 

     On Tuesday, December 16, 2014 12:41 PM, Bruce Yinhe <community-manager@REDACTED> wrote:
   
 

 Hi everyone,
Industrial Erlang User Group (IEUG) has been working together with the Erlang/OTP team to investigate and create a package management system for Erlang/OTP. 
The lack of a package management system for Erlang has been discussed for a long time in the community. In essence, a straightforward package management system is believed to take Erlang programming language a step forward. Multiple tools will appear in the community. It needs to be supported by a highly visible community behind it.
In order to increase the adoption and to result in a tool widely used in the Erlang ecosystem, we are identifying the most important user categories and use cases, based on what the majority of the community want in a package manager. Therefore we would like to invite an open discussion.
Now you are welcome to share your thoughts, suggestions or proposals about an Erlang package manager. It would be great if you could reply with your motivation, explaining why a feature is necessary to have. There are some example questions to begin the dicussion with, including, but not limited to the following.    
   - What metadata information should an Erlang package include?
   - What functionality do you need in a package manager for Erlang in order to use it in production?   

   - What other concerns do you have about an Erlang package management system?
Erlang package manager's brief wish list of features:    
   - Console interface   

   - Web interface   

   - Package Index and Repository
   - Fetch, Install and Remove Packages   

   - Publish packages   

   - Versioning and Dependency Management
We are aware of several previous efforts and existing tools that attempt to achieve the similar goal. We want to look at existing things, both from Erlang and Elixir, to see if they fit the requirements. If not, we will then have to make something new, perhaps as a rewrite of an existing tool.
The IEUG members are putting together requirements for a package manager and will work with the community and Ericsson to create a standard and address any voids which exists in the existing tooling, funding necessary efforts required. 

Best regards
Bruce Yinhe
Erlang Community ManagerIndustrial Erlang User Group
community-manager@REDACTED 72 311 43 89
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