Package upgrades in FOSS distributions: details and challenges

The upgrade problems faced by Free and Open Source Software distributions have characteristics not easily found elsewhere. We describe the structure of packages and their role in the upgrade process. We show that state of the art package managers have shortcomings inhibiting their ability to cope with frequent upgrade failures. We survey current countermeasures to such failures, argue that they are not satisfactory, and sketch alternative solutions

Grid-Brick Event Processing Framework in GEPS

Experiments like ATLAS at LHC involve a scale of computing and data management that greatly exceeds the capability of existing systems, making it necessary to resort to Grid-based Parallel Event Processing Systems (GEPS). Traditional Grid systems concentrate the data in central data servers which have to be accessed by many nodes each time an analysis or processing job starts. These systems require very powerful central data servers and make little use of the distributed disk space that is available in commodity computers. The Grid-Brick system, which is described in this paper, follows a different approach. The data storage is split among all grid nodes having each one a piece of the whole information. Users submit queries and the system will distribute the tasks through all the nodes and retrieve the result, merging them together in the Job Submit Server. The main advantage of using this system is the huge scalability it provides, while its biggest disadvantage appears in the case of failure of one of the nodes. A workaround for this problem involves data replication or backup.Comment: 6 pages; document for CHEP'03 conferenc

Comparison of PBO solvers in a dependency solving domain

Linux package managers have to deal with dependencies and conflicts of packages required to be installed by the user. As an NP-complete problem, this is a hard task to solve. In this context, several approaches have been pursued. Apt-pbo is a package manager based on the apt project that encodes the dependency solving problem as a pseudo-Boolean optimization (PBO) problem. This paper compares different PBO solvers and their effectiveness on solving the dependency solving problem.Comment: In Proceedings LoCoCo 2010, arXiv:1007.083

Preparing FLOSS for Future Network Paradigms: A Survey on Linux Network Management

Part 1: PapersInternational audienceOperating system tools must fulfil the requirements generated by the advances in networking paradigms. To understand the current state of the Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) ecosystem, we present a survey on the main tools used to manage and interact with the network, and how they are organized in Linux-based operating systems. Based on the survey results, we present a reference Linux network stack that can serve as the basis for future heterogeneous network environments, contributing towards a standardized approach in Linux. Using this stack, and focusing on dynamic and spontaneous network interactions, we present an evolution path for network related technologies, contributing to Linux as a network research operating system and to FLOSS as a whole