Operating Systems > Linux and UNIX

Ubuntu: The Verdict

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WMD:
I like Apple's package system.  One program, one file, one folder for all.  This does raise some issues with dynamic vs. static linking, but that hasn't caused much trouble yet.

worker201:

--- Quote from: Orethrius ---One of the members here had a pretty groundbreaking idea not too long ago in the form of Linux binary packages.  Don't remember if it was Jeff or Stryker though.  :(
--- End quote ---


I believe it was Jeffberg and theJimmyJames who came up with the idea.  They kicked ideas around with some guy whose name I have forgotten, and were going to build their own distro, Komodo Linux, with a GUI called GenSTeP.

worker201:

--- Quote from: bedouin ---I really don't care about the technical superiority or inferiority of RPMs; all I know is that every distro based on it sent me into the so-called RPM dependency hell.  My past experiences with it void any merits it may have.

apt-get, on the other hand, has worked flawlessly.  Nearly every Linux app that's not niche is included in Debian's package library.  On top of that, I'm running Debian on PPC, a minority platform that usually gets the shaft when it comes to binary packages; the coverage has been equal between PPC and x86 in Debian.
--- End quote ---


Where you been, slick?  apt works on rpm distros too.  Granted, there aren't as many packages as there are for Deb, but it works just the same.  There's even a GUI interface to it called synaptic that lets you click to install or remove packages.  I use it in Fedora.

Unfortunately, I can't tell what the integration is like with non-apted rpms.  Like, if you download an rpm and install it yourself, I don't think apt will know about it.  That could be improved on.  It certainly would be nice to have one central database that tracks every program on the machine, whether you installed it from source, package, or package manager.

piratePenguin:

--- Quote from: Orethrius ---One of the members here had a pretty groundbreaking idea not too long ago in the form of Linux binary packages. Don't remember if it was Jeff or Stryker though. :(
--- End quote ---
Any of yas remember what this groundbreaking idea was more specifically?

worker201:

--- Quote from: piratePenguin ---Any of yas remember what this groundbreaking idea was more specifically?
--- End quote ---


The idea was to have packages work like OSX programs.  For a good example, take gimp.app - it uses a wrapper script to add all the dependencies to the package.  So instead of linking off system libraries, it links off its own resources.

Not all that well thought out - certain libraries, like gtk, atk, pango, freetype, and glibc, for example, need to be used over and over again, which is why we link and share them in the first place.  No offense to those guys, because they were cool, and at least tried to turn their ideas into reality, but they were thinkers, not doers.

I think synaptic is just about the best idea I've seen yet.  If you want to install a package, it tells you what dependencies need to be met, and one click allows you to add all these extra packages.  Unfortunately, the rpm repositories don't have the latest and greatest apps and versions.  The system tends to break down when you're dealing with a package like ffmpeg, which is updated almost daily, but released only every six months.  The only way to get a working copy is to go CVS - any package built off a release is completely unsupported.  And ffmpeg is damn difficult to install from source.  So you have to go outside the system occasionally.

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