XML, TL setup

[Peter Flynn]

> So I have switched to the installer, namely fpsetup.exe . My
> question is : given that I need a text description of the packages,
> is it stupid to build a data driven setup that will take an xml file
> as input and do the installation ? A perl script could build most of
> the xml file(s) from your lists files. Some hand tweaking might be
> needed. I still do not know if it is bound to fail.  The goal would
> be to build *also* a command line program or a library in C or C++
> and portable between Unix and win32 to do the setup.  I envisaged to
> use expat to read the xml file. I can send a DTD and an XML setup
> file (forgive me: this is my first try at using this stuff).

There are several applications of XML already out there for
describing, populating, and managing the software installation and
configuration process (including one notable one at the W3C whose name
escapes me right now, but I'll find it). It would be nice to have a
system which would both specify and document an installation, but
I'd settle for one that novices can rely on.

I have put a copy of my local guide to installing TeX Live 4 at
ftp://castor.ucc.ie/pub/texlive4.pdf.gz which I hope will explain some
of my recent problems.

///Peter