# BlenderPackage, the Blender Package Manager (wip)

This is work-in-progress documentation for the work-in-progress package manager
(the name is also a work-in-progress) As such, everything here is subject to
change.

# Package

A _package_ consists of an archive containing files to be installed.

Note:  
I think it would be good to always store `bl_info` metadata with the package,
but how best to do this while being compatible with existing addons and future
non-addons remains an open question (perhaps we can always include an
`__init__.py` even in non-addon packages?)


# Repository

A _repository_ consists of a directory containing a "repo.json" file.  This
repo.json file contains metadata describing each package (`bl_info`) and where
it may be retrieved from. 

A repo.json file may currently be generated from a directory of addons by
running `blenderpack.py <path/to/addon/dir>`.


# Client

Clients "use" a repository by including its repo.json in packages listed in 
Clients can be configured to use multiple repositories at once.

In addition, the client maintains it's own "local repository", which is a
repo.json containing installed packages.

Clients can take the following actions:

## Install

_Installing_ means downloading a single package, adding it to the local
repository, and extracting/copying the package's file(s) to their
destination(s).

## Uninstall

_Uninstalling_ means deleting a single package's files, then removing it from
the local repository.

Note:  
If some packages store user-created data (e.g. preferences), we may want to
preserve that somehow.

## Update

_Updating_ means looking for newer addons with the same names as installed
addons **from the same repository**.

## Fetch

_Fetching_ means checking for modifications to the `repo.json`s of the enabled
repositories. If there are modifications, then download them.
This will be done automatically before an _Update_.