Re: ftpfs --> httpfs?

[tb@MIT.EDU (Thomas Bushnell, BSG)]

Brent Fulgham <brent.fulgham@xpsystems.com> writes:

> The reason I ask is that it would greatly simplify apt
> porting if we could make use of ftp and http file 
> systems.  Then it just becomes a matter of pointing
> apt's "local" configuration info to either of these
> filesystems and setting up proper instructions for
> "cd'ing" to the appropriate place on the net.

I did run dselect once on the relevant directory from
/ftp/ftp.debian.org.  It was very slow, because ftpfs is not well
optimized for such things, and it probably never will be.  It's real
convenient for upgrading indidvidual packages (and apt might work well
that way), but it's still nice to have programs like apt use ftp and
http directly.

Thomas