[Gloucs] Cat amongst the... package mangement solutions

[Anthony Edward Cooper]

Throwing the cat amongst the pidgeons......

I have used both systems and I wouldn't say that one system was better 
than another. They both manage dependencies etc and indeed debian can 
make use of rpms.

However, any package system is only as good as the package maintainers. 
It's the packages themselves that list the dependencies. You get them 
wrong in your custom package that you are putting togther and you could 
cause others a lot of grief.

I don't think that apt is any better than yum WRT package software. 
However I do think that the debian packages are put together with more 
thought and their dependencies are more thoroughly tested. One need 
never reinstall debian apparently, and whilst one can upgrade FC4 to FC5 
using yum,  I certainly wouldn't recommend it!

However debian is bit of a pig to install and get the software you want 
on it (I had to configure X and sound! - that was like going back to the 
bad old days). Ubunto is much better at this (based on debian).

I do quite a bit of sysadmin and I don't have much faith in the package 
upgrade process. I prefer the clean re-install approach to upgrading. 
You end up with a cleaner system and usually a more stable one. The 
number of times I have read postings along the lines of (I just patched 
X and Y has now stopped working!).

As with any system, the less you tinker with it generally the more 
stable it will be. Never go for the newly released major release (wait 
for a few minor releases until they get the bugs sorted out). When 
something needs to be patched for stability/security reasons, just appy 
those patches (they are usually more targetted than the general 
`upgrade' patches and so less likely to damage a system). Anyway use 
VMware for tinkering :-)).

Consequently what I do is pick a distro that will go on with the minimum 
of fuss (it will automatically detect all your hardware and configure 
it) and by doing a full install you get a sane fully featured standard 
Linux/Unix environment. Additional software I compile/install under /opt 
to separate it from the underlying OS.

    What I have used (and what I think):

    SlackWare:
        + Fast install
        + Ultra stable
        + Standard Unix like environment
        - re-install upgrade approach
        - have to configure X & sound
        - Package system does not support package dependencies (not 
really an issue though)
    RH/WBEL/Centos:
       + Automated install (hw configured for you)
       + Pretty standard Unix like environment, loads of tools
       + Pretty stable
       + Can use yum to upgrade packages
       - re-install upgrade approach
       - Can't really upgrade from one version to a next
    FedoraCore:
       See RH above
       - Can be unstable due to the bleeding edge software
    Debian:
       + Stable
       +  Powerful extensive package management
       + Never re-install approach
       - Bit of a pig to install
       - A bit of a non-standard Unix environment
       - Don't get a standard complete set of applications WRT a Unix 
environment (you have to add them afterwards)
    Mandrake:
       + Automated install (hw configured for you)
       - Poor/incomplete selection of packages sometimes the distro is 
incomplete
       - Relatively unstable
       - A devil to tune properly (there are things I still haven't 
managed to switch off (under WBEL/RH I found out how to do it in minutes))

    I have run SlackWare in the past and now use WBEL 4 respin 1 
(SlackWare does not support 64 bit). However SlackWare is still 
unbeatable stability wise.

    Hope this helps.

    No doubt there will be an uproar. But as I said, this is my 
experience based upon 15 years (on and off) of Unix/Linux sysadmin.....

    Hope this helps.

    Now where is that bucket of water to put out the flames?..... :-))

    I'm going off to bed now.... Night all.

    Tony Cooper.

John Patrick wrote:

> Afternoon everyone,
>
> At the last meeting there was a conversation which i admit when over my
> head, about package management solutions in different distros, mainly why
> debian's is better than an rpm based one. I want to understand more about
> linux, I've used it for a several years but never really understood
> administering and maintenance. Since the meeting I've looked a few times
> into how they work, advantages and disadvantages etc but have not got
> anywhere with real understanding.
>
> How does debian's package management system compare to an rpm 
> solution. How
> do they differ and what does install/update/remove/"dependence 
> management"
> work in both and why is x a better solution than y.
>
> Thank in advance for any participation in this discussion,
>
>> From a new'ish'bie who really hates feeling like one,
>
> John
> _______________________________________________
> gloucs mailing list
> gloucs at mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gloucs
>


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