Alternative format for the configuration file

[Free Ekanayaka]

|--==> "OS" == Otavio Salvador <otavio@debian.org> writes:

  OS> [1  <multipart/mixed (7bit)>]
  OS> [1.1  <text/plain (7bit)>]
  OS> || On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 03:21:54 +0200
  OS> || Free Ekanayaka <free@agnula.org> wrote: 

  OS> You got all packges from sid and then, on merge, you use only
  OS> base-packages.

  fe> But this way  I have to  download (and  possibly  update) a  number of
  fe> packages I'm not interested on.

  fe> For example let's say that you'd like to have all the base system from
  fe> sarge, except for  some  special packages for  which  I want  to  have
  fe> bleeding-edge versions from sid (this is a typical scenario for me).

  fe> What I want  to be able to do  is to have  those packages  and resolve
  fe> their dependences using sarge packages wherever possible, and grabbing
  fe> additional packages from sid only if necessary.

  fe> Is this  possible with the current  schema? And, if yes,  do I have to
  fe> download the  whole sid  base-system  even if  I'm interested  only on
  fe> getting a few packages?

  OS> Yes. It's possible. You can use a filter for sarge directly and only
  OS> get the base system and another to sid to get only the needed packages.

And what  about  dependences?

I guess that  the  sid filter, a task  include  statement listing  the
needed packages, will result in populating  the sid remote backend and
recursevely downloading all  the dependences for  such packages, which
is a thing I don't need.

Moreover   is there a  way   to tell to the    merger that I want  the
dependences  of the sid  packages  to be  satisfied by  sarge packages
wherever  possible (note  that this does  not exclude  using  some sid
packages if needed)?

And may  I  do this with  more  than  2 backends, that  means  "please
resolve  dependences  using packages   from backend  A,B,C, preferring
packages  from A over  the ones from B,  and packages  from B over the
ones from C.

cheers,

free