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Web search front end to package repository

Project ID: 
214
Current stage: 
Manager: 
What: 

Description: Provide a web interface for users to search for packages. For example, produce a list of available text editors for a given platform.

Deliverables: A user-facing web page and back-end scripts, implementing a specified search mechanism.


The final version is now available.

Why: 

Customer: Primarily users.

Case statement:

When: 

Status: Currently awaiting sign-off. Has been advertised and made available to users.

Timescales:

Priority:

Time:

How: 

Proposal:
It's not always easy for users to find out what packages we have. Searching our repositories could reveal this, but they are not in a user-accessible form. A tool that provided simple search facilities would be useful, providing a starting-point for software investigation or package installation requests.

Resources: 3 weeks. May be able to make use of existing systems.

Plan:


  1. Identify repositories to be used, and constrain search methods.
  2. Investigate implementation possibilities (evaluate repository querying tools).
  3. Produce web page and scripts to demonstrate simple search.
  4. Advertise for evaluation and feedback.
  5. Refine web page and scripts, assess viability of any requested features.
Other: 

Dependencies:

Risks:
The tools should provide no risk to system operation (no attempt at automatic installation is intended), but some inconvenient user requests may be generated.


Use outside Informatics should require access control (as information about installed software versions could be gleaned from searches).

Milestones

Proposed date Achieved date Name Description