[Bro-Dev] package manager progress

[Matthias Vallentin]

> Right now, packages don’t get downloaded via the submodule, they are
> cloned directly from the package’s full git URL (which git just
> happens to encoded within the submodule).
>
> So this means only packages a user is interested in end up getting
> downloaded.  

I'm not 100% following. Isn't every package recorded as submodule? Is
there any use case where you would do a submodule update? Or are the
packages just recorded there instead of recording them in a separate
file?

> The package source just has to have some sort of database that links
> nodes in a package hierarchy (e.g. alice/foo, bob/bar, eve/baz) to
> their actual URLs.  Git submodules just happens to perform this role.

(Yeah, reusing this makes sense)

> >    Filters available/installed packages by a chosen category and then
> >    outputs that filtered package list.
> > 
> >  I don't understand what "available" means here. It could also mean
> >  "packages that exist remotely but not installed locally" as opposed to
> >  "available for use right now.” 
> 
> It means the former — “list” operates on the combined set of installed and not-yet-installed packages.
> 
> Does wording it like “Filters known packages...” make it clearer for you?

I think "known" is also ambiguous, because it doesn't clearly convey
the local aspect. How about just saying "filters installed packages"?

> [..] but seeing “scripts” as an option, without reading any further
> documentation, implies to me that you might be able to specify a list
> of paths/files there, which you can’t.

Fair point. The reduction certainly omits some semantics. To simplify
reading the options, maybe add an underscore, e.g., script_path and
plugin_path?

    Matthias