[csw-maintainers] checkpkg: New feature: file collision detection

[Maciej (Matchek) Blizinski]

This announcement should be especially interesting for maintainers who
have recently been hit by the file collision problem.

I've recently pushed out a new version of checkpkg with a new feature:
file collision detection.

One counterintuitive change is that, from now on, packages installed
on the buildfarm do *not* take part in the process of checking.  Your
packages are now checked against a catalog mirror.

As a bonus, it is now possible to check packages against different
catalogs, for example, you can check your SunOS5.9 package separately
against SunOS5.9 and SunOS5.10 catalogs.  Please refer to checkpkg
--help for syntax.

It's still possible to run checkpkg outside the buildfarm, with
database maintenance automation.  However, since all database
interaction is now handled by an ORM, there's a severe performance hit
for bulk upload operations.  The database refresh can take now about
an hour (sic!).  I believe it's possible to optimize it, but it has to
be done with care - my first attempt was unsuccessful.  A workaround
for that can be switching off automatic database refreshes and
handling them manually, which is how the database is now maintained on
the buildfarm.

For everyone else, please update your GAR sources and carry on,
everything should work as before or better.

If you want to learn more, please see the checkpkg wiki page[1].

As always, please let me know if you have any issues when running checkpkg.

Maciej

[1] http://wiki.opencsw.org/checkpkg