[yocto] Mapping root filesystem files back into packages

[Ulf Magnusson]

Hello,

To support an in-house packaging format, we need to partition the root
filesystem into a number of packages (called "internal packages" from
here on to avoid confusion), where each internal package corresponds
to a number of (e.g. IPK) packages.

The way this is currently done is by manually maintaining a database
(implemented as a PACKAGE_CLASSES class) that maps files in the root
filesystem back to packages, along with a list of what packages should
go into each internal package. I suspect it is done this way so that
post-processing steps on the root filesystem will be included in the
internal packages.

To me this feels pretty roundabout, and I suspect that there are much
nicer solutions (suggestions welcome!). What I'm mostly curious about
at the moment though is whether there's some nicer way to map files
from the root filesystem back to packages, without having to maintain
a separate database. Having the method be independent of the package
format (e.g., IPK) would be a bonus, though I'm not sure if it's a
strict requirement.

Cheers,
Ulf