This Wiki page is a work in progress and has yet to be reviewed and validated for accuracy.
PackageKit and pkgng are wonderful tools, this Google Summer of Code project aims to combine them into a complex, creative, and easy to use user experience. Currently FreeBSD's PackageKit port has support for the ports system but not binary package management. PackageKit currently also is in need of maintenance and contains several bugs. The most noticeable updates for the user interfaces will be the inclusion of features specific to FreeBSD; which will provide a much better user experience whether using pkgng or ports.
PackageKit has been available in the ports system with a ports back end. In order to use PackageKit to offer a GUI, a pkgng back end will need to be developed. The Qt and GTK+ front ends for PackageKit, KPackageKit and gnome-packagekit respectively, have some issues that need to be resolved or at least better understood. In order to take advantage of all of the great features of FreeBSD and pkgng, enhancements will be made to both PackageKit front ends. Enhancements that do not rely on pkgng will be available when using the ports back end.
| June 17 - July 06 | June 17: Start of coding |
| Compose pkgng back end for PackageKit | |
| Create PackageKit-Setter application | |
| Commit patches for public testing | |
| July 07 - July 26 | Fix PackageKit front end problems with pkgng back end |
| Fix any other issues with front ends | |
| Release functional though limited beta | |
| July 27 - July 28 | Buffer to wrap up work before mid-term evaluation |
| July 29 - August 2 | Mid-term evaluations |
| August 03 - August 21 | Enhance front ends to offer new pkgng specific functionality |
| Release an enhanced beta | |
| August 22 - September 08 | Resolve issues updating PC-BSD installations |
| Commit patches to check issue fixes | |
| September 09 - September 16 | Finish documentation |
| Performance testing | |
| Code review | |
| September 16: End of coding (soft) | |
| September 17 - September 23 | Buffer to wrap up work before final evaluation |
| Release fully functional version | |
| September 23: End of coding (hard) |
Instructions on downloading, installing, and testing this software is in the TESTING file.
For help using the code in this repository, please read README.
An up-to-date task list is in the repository, see TODO.
There aren't any screenshots of the interfaces, just yet.
Video tutorials will introduce users to the features introduced by this project.