Add modalias support

[julian-klode]

In order to migrate the driver finding in Ubuntu to PackageKit, we think it makes sense to use AppStream to do that. I think what we have to do for that is

1. Document the modalias list for provides for the appstream yaml format
2. extract modalias list from the packages Modaliases field, which looks like this:
   Modaliases: nvidia(pci:v000010DEd000005E7sv*sd00000595bc03sc*i*, ...)
3. Make software-properties query appstream for modaliases.

Does that sound about right?

[julian-klode]

We don't have to do that to get the task of porting software-properties done, but it certainly would be nice :)

[ximion]

Everything is already there in appstream-generator to support this. The respective packages just need a metainfo file specifying modaliases.
See https://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/chap-Metadata.html#tag-provides (modalias YAML field exists as well) as well as this Debian Wiki entry: https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines#Announcing_supported_hardware

You can also query for components that support a given modalias using appstreamcli what-provides modalias '<modalias_string>'
So, as far as I know, the only thing needed is more metainfo files.

[iainlane]

On Wed, Mar 07, 2018 at 04:20:16AM -0800, Matthias Klumpp wrote: Everything is already there in appstream-generator to support this. The respective packages just need a metainfo file specifying modaliases. See https://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/chap-Metadata.html#tag-provides (modalias YAML field exists as well) as well as this Debian Wiki entry: https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines#Announcing_supported_hardware

Can we generate this from the apt metadata instead of / as well as making pkgs provide the metainfo file?

…

-- Iain Lane [ [email protected] ] Debian Developer [ [email protected] ] Ubuntu Developer [ [email protected] ]

[ximion]

Can we generate this from the apt metadata instead of / as well as making pkgs provide the metainfo file?

I guess so (don't we do a similar hack for GStreamer plugins?), although I would of course very much prefer any such solution to be just a stopgap to proper metainfo files.
I actually wonder whether writing a script that generates the metainfo files once from apt data makes more sense (and then add those files to the packages proper). Other distros may be very interested in adopting the metainfo files as well, in that case.

[Conan-Kudo]

@ximion Historically, in RPM distributions, the mod-aliases have been part of rpm Provides and Supplements tags for kernel modules subpackaged out in the kernel package and kmod packages.

I'm not sure whether we've added too many of these other than for the NVIDIA driver to metainfo...