Repository

The Imprints system is designed to simplify the Samba administrator's task of finding and installing Windows Printer Drivers on a Samba server.

The Retrieval Server Design Document provides an overview of the entire Imprints design.

The word "repository" seems to imply some single location where the Windows Printer Driver packages reside, but this doesn't need to be the case. From the view of the installation program, all that is required is a valid http or ftp URL, and network access to that URL.

In practice, the packages will likely reside together, but it is not a requirement of the design.

Package Files

Package Files must adhere to the specifications set forth in the Package Design Documents. If either the package file name or its URL changes, all retrieval server databases that refer to the package should be updated to reflect the new name and/or location.

Security

Since the packages contain executable Windows code, care must be taken to ensure the security and integrity of the package files. When the package is built, a digital signature should be generated using the gnuPG package (see gnupg.org for more information). This signature will be transferred to the Retrieval Server database when that database is updated.

The digital signature should be in ASCII-armored detached-signature form. GnuPG can generate such a signature using this command:

gpg --output package_name.sig --armor --detach-sig package_name

The signature file must have a URL available at the time the Retrieval Server database is updated, so that the signature file can be transferred to the database. After the database is updated, the local copy of the signature file can be removed.