[RFC] Reorganizing the download directory.

[Harald Becker]

Hi Rob!

Let me throw in just an idea to the discussion about changing the
download directory:

 I agree with you, that for newbies the directory shouldn't be that
overwhelmed. So I would prefer to break things but only once (as far as
possible). If I got it right, the biggest problems are to break the
download scripts of users. So why don't you are going one step further
in those script downloads?

What about creating an index or link file which contains a two column
list. The first column just gives the filename to download and the
second column the complete URL to the file. This way you can even add
synonyms like busybox-current to point to the current release and other
similar usages. And additionally the link provided may even point to a
different location/server, that is anywhere in the net (just the
possibility, no need to overwhelm this).

The index file than rests in download directory as a single file, at a
constant location, with a constant name. So just anybody has to change
things once to work as follows:

- Download the index file from constant and known location (promised to
stay constant in the future)
- Lookup the requested file in the index file
- Grab the link to that file from the index
- Do a wget with this link

It wouldn't be that complicated to provide a script to do just this.

The index file could be created automatically or semi automatically
(from several locations). And when ever you need to change the directory
structure you do only need to update this index file creation process
and fire it once manually. All other changes (that is new files,
outdated files etc.) are recognized on an automated run every X hours
(maybe 1 to 3 times a day).

This way you break things just once and allow you to throw in changes in
the future without further breaks. Or even better, you don't need to
break things too fast. Just leave everything where it is now and start
creating the index file. As soon, as that file is available every
'scriptie' has time to change there update scripts. After some time you
can go on and start to change the directory layout, updating the index
after any change. Those who updated there scripts, won't notice any
breaks at all and the others will have to live withe that single break.

What do you think about this?

Harald