[tex-live] Updating packages over the internet a la MiKTeX

[Sebastian Rahtz]

Gerben Wierda wrote:

>> we had a suggestion from christian, while we were in darmstadt, that we
>> consider a programmable front end for ctan.  i see no difficulty in
>> principle in creating a soap service that would sit (at least) on the
>> main ctan sites.
>
>
> If you create a programmable front end does that mean you need to run 
> specific software on the server and thus each mirror?

ideally, only the main CTAN nodes would run the software, handle all 
requests, and pass
the heavy lifting onto a local mirror transparently. so the mirrors 
would not need to be intelligent.

I'm not holding my breath waiting for someone to implement this :-}

sebastian