The attached patch has been applied into svn r747. It adds the options 'dump',
'dump-noversion' and 'dump-tofile' to commands 'install', 'upgrade', and 'remove'. 

Option 'dump-tofile' requires either 'dump' or 'dump-noversion' to be specified.
When dumping without 'dump-tofile', output goes to stderr.

If asked for dump, the transaction won't commit.

Looks good to me:
# smart upgrade --dump-noversion >/dev/null
freeciv
kipi-plugins
rar
libxslt
powersave
speex
k3b
sane
libxine1
alsa-tools
libxml2-python
libxslt-devel
mad
imlib2
totem
gthumb
libxml2-devel
imlib2-loaders
mplayerplug-in
perl-Cyrus-IMAP
dvd+rw-tools
alsa
assetml-flags
libxml2
libvorbis-devel
gcompris
libvorbis
alsa-firmware
alsa-devel

Please, try again with this new patch. It adds --dump and --dump-noversion, so
you can chose to show the versions or not while dumping the package list either
on update or upgrade.

That seems to work:
# smart upgrade --dump
Loading cache...
Updating cache...               ######################################## [100%]

Computing transaction...

gcompris-7.2-0.pm.1@i586
alsa-firmware-1.0.10-0.pm.0@noarch
imlib2-loaders-1.2.1-0.pm.0@i586
mad-0.15.1b-1.pm.0@i586


But I'm confused about the output.  I would expect only package names, but 
apparently this is not the case.  Does this not give problems when smart will
be using this output to re-install the same packages again (for whatever,
could be a crashes smart or whatever)...
I'm thinking of this command:
# smart install $(smart upgrade --dump)

That starts nice, but it does not continue:
# smart install $(smart upgrade --dump)
gcompris-7.2-0.pm.1@i586
alsa-firmware-1.0.10-0.pm.0@noarch
imlib2-loaders-1.2.1-0.pm.0@i586
mad-0.15.1b-1.pm.0@i586
sane-1.0.17-0.pm.0@i586
freeciv-2.0.7-1.pm.1@i586
k3b-0.12.10-3.pm.0@i586
kipi-plugins-0.1.0_0.1-1.pm.1@i586
gthumb-2.6.8-2.guru.suse100@i686
alsa-1.0.10-0.pm.1@i586
mplayerplug-in-3.17-0.pm.0@i586
rar-3.5.1-0.pm.1@i586
libvorbis-1.1.1-0.pm.0@i586
powersave-0.11.5-1.pm.1@i586
libxine1-1.1.1-0.pm.2@i586
alsa-tools-1.0.10-0.pm.0@i586
perl-Cyrus-IMAP-2.2.12-14.kolab.0@i586
imlib2-1.2.1-0.pm.0@i586
libvorbis-devel-1.1.1-0.pm.0@i586
speex-1.1.11.1-0.pm.0@i586
alsa-devel-1.0.10-0.pm.1@i586
assetml-flags-1.10-0.pm.1@i586
Loading cache...
Updating cache...               ######################################## [100%]

error: 'Loading' matches no packages. Suggestions:
error:     loadlin-1.6c-235@i586




A sidestep, what about this output:
# smart install --explain rar-3.5.1-0.pm.1@i586
Loading cache...
Updating cache...               ######################################## [100%]

Computing transaction...

Upgrading packages (1):
  rar-3.5.1-0.pm.1@i586
    Upgrades:
      unrar-3.5.2-2@i586 (upgraded)
    Conflicts:
      unrar-3.5.2-2@i586 (upgraded)

689.8kB of package files are needed. 1.2MB will be used.


Looks confusing to me as user..., does it conflict or upgrade the packages?

This new version of the patch adds --dump to upgrade and makes it dump *only*
packages involved on the requested action (install/upgrade, not considering
downgrades, removals and such).

It does not look right: 
linux:/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages # smart install alsa --dump 
Loading cache... 
Updating cache...               ######################################## [100%] 
 
Computing transaction... 
alsa-1.0.10-0.pm.1@i586 
alsa-1.0.9-23@i586 
 
It shows the packages to be installed and to be removed, without being 
able to distinquish between both.  If the to be removed package is not 
shown, it might be okay. 
 
But the --dump is especially useful for the upgrade (dist-upgrade if it 
exist) option.  So please add it to the upgrade action too.

I'm sending a patch that adds the "--dump" option to the 'install' command and
sends the package list to stderr.

It's just a personal test. No guarantee that it will come into Smart.

Can you please check if it's enough information for you?

It would be nice if smart could output a package name only change list.     
This comes in handy when for example an upgrade crashes.  If the list with    
to be upgrade/installed/removed packages would be saved before the (crashed)    
upgrade operation, the install could be continued with for example:    
    
# smart install $(cat <saved packages file>)    
    
The output could be similar to the --explain output, but than less verbose:   
linux:~ # smart install --explain gramps   
Loading cache...   
Updating cache...               ######################################## [100%]   
   
Computing transaction...   
   
Upgrading packages (1):   
  gramps-2.0.9-0.suse1000.rb1@i586   
    Upgrades:   
      gramps-2.0.9-0.suse1000.rb0@i586 (upgraded)   
    Requires:   
      python-gnome-extras-2.11.3-3@i586 (installed)   
   
Installed packages (8):   
  gtksourceview-1.4.1-2@i586   
    Required By:   
      python-gnome-extras-2.11.3-3@i586 (installed)   
   
So this would suffice:   
  
  
linux:~ # smart install --some-new-query-option <package>  
gramps gramps-2.0.9-0.suse1000.rb0@i586  
python-gnome-extras python-gnome-extras-2.11.3-3@i586  
gtksourceview gtksourceview-1.4.1-2@i586  
python-gnome-extras python-gnome-extras-2.11.3-3@i586  
  
More or less similar to:  
 
linux:~ # apt -s install gramps | grep Inst | awk '{print $2}' 
gtksourceview 
gtkspell 
libgtop 
nautilus-cd-burner 
mjpegtools 
gstreamer-plugins-default 
gstreamer-plugins-extra 
libnvtv 
totem 
python-gnome-extras 
gramps