KSP-AVC / CKAN future integration

[Felger]

Alternate title: MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR FELGER RIGHT NOW PRIORITY ONE!!!!8!!!
As requested, I have created a ticket.

For the serious request, it'd be nice if there were some communication between KSP-AVC and CKAN to facilitate easy notification of mod updates.

[pjf]

We already partially use AVC files for indexing new releases.

Or are you after AVC checking ckan metainfo for new releases? Because we'd be totally down with that.

We might need to see if we can port the core to mono 3.5 (#330) to make it accessible via KSP compiled mods. We could potentially implement a ckan lite assembly, which lets you read the registry, but not make any changes to it (or install/remove mods).

Do we know if the AVC / MiniAVC folks are on github?

[Felger]

That's affirmative, sir.

https://github.com/CYBUTEK/KSPAddonVersionChecker, I'll create a similar ticket over there to initiate the conversation.

[pjf]

References CYBUTEK/KSPAddonVersionChecker#6

[pjf]

Asking for clarification here? Do we want:

1. The CKAN indexer (netkan) to support checking for updates using AVC files (in which case this is a duplicate of Expand KSP-AVC support #286).
2. The ability for AVC tools to be able to query the CKAN registry to see if updates are available (in which case this is a new feature, but we likely need Target mono 3.5 for ckan.dll #330 first).
3. Something else?

[Felger]

AVC to ask to launch CKAN to update when a mod update is available.

Example gameplay:

• Launch the game as normal.
• RealismOverhaul has updated
• KSP-AVC compares, notes the update needed, informs the user and offers two buttons:
  Download
  Update With CKAN
• If the user clicks Update with CKAN, it launches CKAN.
• If the user clicks Download, it opens the browser and sends you to the link specified to AVC.
• Update the Mod and launch the game!

[robert-cassidy]

In addition to Felger's last comment, what about the following (which would need to initiate on the AVC side):

• Launch game
• AVC notices that an update is available
• AVC knows the download information, calls NetKAN and says 'yo, there's a new version of this mod up, at this location with these details, go index it'

AVC knows within minutes that there's an update, but CKAN can take a while, particularly if the mod author hasn't explicitly added support for CKAN. This way the AVC support becomes CKAN support.