Bill Preece wrote:
>> From: Eric Pierce <epierce@usf.edu>
>>The real reason Linux is going to have a tough time on the desktop is
>>because of how hard it is to install a program. For instance, I just
>
> What would help is to make the packages with all the libaries included. Then
No no no no no no no no NO!!!
THAT road leads VERY shortly to DLL Hell.
How many times have you installed a software package under Windows, only to find
out that one of your other programs has stopped working, because both programs
use the same libraries, both packages include their own copies of those
libraries, and both installers blindly install THEIR copy.
(*I* can safely say "none", but then I've NEVER run Windows primarily on any of
my personal machines. Just about anyone else you can ask has had it happen to
them at LEAST once.)
No, far better to have an available repository for libraries (distribution
mirror sites, most likely), and have an installer capable of resolving
dependency issues as needed. I believe dpackage and/or apt-get already have
this ability, or something very similar to it. There is probably something
comparable for use with RPMs, but with as many pretty front-ends to rpm as are
out there, who's to say?
As for what convenient repository to use to find libraries, or other needed
packages? Either a fast, convenient mirror for the distribution of your choice
(for Mandrake, I use ftp.sunet.se, which is almost always available and
blazingly fast despite the fact it's in Sweden), or www.rpmfind.net is good for
finding RPMs in general for all the major distributions, and provides an index
of other RPM repositories as well (its own, Freshmeat, rpm.com, others).
Hope this helps...
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