I'm creating yet another URL shortener script. Why? Because I'm not keen on over paying for simple scripts -- because, well, I'd be over paying -- and I'm not too keen on using open source scripts -- because the more people using the same script, the more likely people will find exploits in it. So with all that in mind, I set out to create my own script.
It has come to my attention that Installer is acting up, and I suspect the 3.1 update is to blame for this. Here's a brief of what I've observed...
As you may know, if you launch Installer from shell, you can see the debug outputs.
As of 3.1, we (myself, and a few other geeks that are working on Cydia and new Repo Source crawler) noticed that Installer now attempts to reload 4 sources at a time instead of 1 at a time. In theory, this is a good move, and it should drastically help the reload time. However, further reviews have shown that this change in their code have actually cause Installer to, in fact, slow down.
This forking process, if designed properly, will be able to help Installer to reload MUCH MUCH more quickly, and you may not even need Repo Source any more. However, we noticed a very odd bug with this process NullRiver have added... Here's a brief of what IS suppose to happen, versus what is ACTUALLY happening.
As mentioned earlier, I will touch base on some of my active projects,
explain what they are, what they do, why I created them, and what not.
Today, I bring you one of my most distinguishable project -- Repo
Source.
Why did I start the project? Several moons ago, during
the launch of the product known as Apple iPod Touch, I pre-ordered an
iPod Touch thinking it was "the thing" to have ... turns out, I was
wrong, but that's a whole different story. Shortly after jailbreak and
what not, I became relatively involved with the iPod Touch / iPhone
scene, and I noticed a serious issue. Installer, an application that
is used to allow end-line users install third party applications on
their iPod Touch / iPhone, is awfully slow when it needs to keep track
of multiple repositories, and especially so if certain repository(ies)
are down, unreachable due to network issues, or out of bandwidth.
This, at first, was not an issue; however, with every 14 year old
insisting on starting their "own repository" and steal applications
from other repositories, as well as software developers insisting on
housing their one and only application on their own repository, it
became a serious issue. When end-line users with up-wards to hundreds
of repositories in their Installer database, the likely-hood of someone
encountering a down/slow/dead repository grew, and load times are often
upwards to 10 or 15 minutes. When I saw this problem, I started
designing a meta-data repository system which allows users to select
and filter their contents to custom tailor their needs, as well as
drastically reduce their Installer's loading time. And in time, Repo
Source was born.
