[SWLUG] RE: Package management

[Steve Anderson]

Just to dip my oar in...

justin at discordia.org.uk wrote:

> So, i say its just fine the way it is. The installer tools already make
> it pretty easy for you, for eample if you ask yum or apt to install the
> gui part of some program for you, it will download it, and all the base
> parts and other dependancies it needs and install them all for you, its
> not so hard.

... I agree. In my mind, the way package management works is way better 
than anything Windows has. For example, when I wanted something to rip 
CDs to MP3s to play on my phone, I went to Synaptic on my desktop, did a 
search, found a tool with its optional features listed as packages as 
well, clicked on the parts I needed (no need for encoding in a lossless 
format, so don't even go there), clicked apply, waited 30 seconds and 
POP! It's there in my menu, in a sensible place, alongside its peers. 5 
minutes later I've got tracks winging their way over Bluetooth to the phone.

In Windows I would've had to Google for a tool, found it, found the site 
was down, looked for another, checked what it can do, download it (with 
all plugins and the likes), run the installer waded through screens of 
intros, licensing info (click 'Accept' without reading), get to a screen 
with lots of check boxes in a tree structure, unchecked a whole load of 
defaults, let the installer put icons all over the shop and install in 
foolish places, write stuff into the registry that it won't get rid of 
when I uninstall, reassociate a load of file types with itself... and 
then get to the end, find out that it's shoddy and that the 17Mb file I 
had to download was a waste of bandwidth.

The difference is this - Linux typically doesn't have installers, it has 
packages in a common format that a common tool can use, and there's a 
move to have them all administered from a single place. Windows has a 
seperate program to be run to do the job for you with each thing you 
install. I definitely prefer the former, ta!

Of course, if you really WANT a fancy installer, you could write one to 
deal with .rpms, .debs, etc. yourself ;)

Steve