Bug#423373: Implement simple debtags-based searches

[Enrico Zini]

Package: apt
Version: 0.6.46.4-0.1
Severity: wishlist

Hello,

I'd like to bring some debtags functionality into apt-cache.  I report
this bug as a feature proposal for apt-cache, for which I solicit some
discussion before going on to implement it.

The idea I'd like to work on is that while noone can be expected to
remember tag names, there are various tag expressions that are generally
useful.

I'd like to embed a list of the most useful tag expressions in
apt-cache, such as:

 gui: (role::program && (interface::x11 || interface::3d) )
 cmdline: (role::program && interface::commandline
 game: (role::program && game::*)
 devel: (devel::* && !role::shared-lib)

Then add a switch to select one of those expressions, like:

 apt-cache search --filter=gui ...

Those expressions can be be hardcoded in apt-cache or read from a
configuration file, whichever is easier to maintain.

The added dependency to apt-cache would be libtagcoll-dev (which in turn
depends on libwibble-dev), but they would only be (optional) build-deps,
as they mostly contain templates and statically link the rest.

So:

 - any problems in adding a build-dep, for an apt-cache only feature
   that can be optionally disabled at compile time?
 - any objections / improvements for this feature?
 - anything else I should know before going on and producing a patch?


Ciao,

Enrico

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.20.1enrico (SMP w/2 CPU cores; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=it_IT.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=it_IT.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii  debian-archive-keyring      2007.02.19   GnuPG archive keys of the Debian a
ii  libc6                       2.3.6.ds1-13 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libgcc1                     1:4.1.1-21   GCC support library
ii  libstdc++6                  4.1.1-21     The GNU Standard C++ Library v3

apt recommends no packages.

-- no debconf information