On 3/4/06, Paul M Foster <paulf@quillandmouse.com> wrote:
>
> Robert Snyder wrote:
> >
> >
> > On 3/3/06, *Paul M Foster* <paulf@quillandmouse.com
> > <mailto:paulf@quillandmouse.com>> wrote:
> >
> > Robert Snyder wrote:
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> > > But the core problem that people have with slackware is that it
> is
> > > controlled by one man ( Patrick ) and Ian just did not like the
> way
> > > Patrick ran the distro. Hence why Slackware is still very much a
> > closed
> > > nit operation and why debian is the complete oposite with
> community
> > > controlled distrobution.
> >
> > I couldn't care less if one guy controls it, as long as I agree with
> the
> > guy. My problems with Slack are 1) it's based on BSD instead of
> System V
> > (making it difficult to alter the init sequence when adding or
> > subtracting packages), and 2) it has what is commonly considered
> *no*
> > [official] package management infrastructure, compared to RH, SuSE
> and
> > Debian. (Tarballs don't really count as package management.)
> >
> > No offense to those who like Slackware. The pool's big enough for
> > everyone. Those are just *my* beefs.
> >
> >
> > There is a package management. it called pkgtools Deb files are
> > tarballs with .deb on them. .deb files rpm files and slackware tgz all
> > share similar structions
> >
>
> Tarballs, .debs and .rpms are "similar" only in the barest sense. And
> .deb files are "ar" archive files which may *contain* tarballs. RPM
> files use a format which can only be unpacked using several tools at
> once (assuming you're not using rpm itself to unpack them).
>
> But I should have been more clear. "Package management" as I define it
> must include dependency checking and control. Slackware tarballs do not
> routinely include this information, though you could probably code it
> into the installation script contained in the tarball. Patrick does not
> do this, and he is the primary originator of packages for Slackware.
This is where you are wrong. There is built in dependcy checking with since
10.0 packages ( you simply add a dependency file )
Before that Patrick did put very basic depency script in core packages so
you could not, not isntall something that was vital to slackware running.
Like the kernel. and the base utils. Now ti does seem to be a matter of
wiether patrick will go around and write dependcy files for each package as
as it currently stats it just a list of programs that pkgtools checks
againxt to see if they are already install. But using dependencies file has
become more wide spread in places like linuxpackages.net ( slackware package
site)
And you could say that slackware is lacking in some areas, yes there is no
dependency resolution like in yum or apt but overall but i can say that I
really never had a dependency issue with slackware. Except recently with the
ousting of gnome from slackware I had a fix a few depenencies by installing
freerock gnome .
With slack I only get a few extra programs that are not included on the
disto so I just wipe the drive and install clean. But I have just upgrade a
old slackware 8.0 server to 10.2 only thing I had to do was update pkgtools
which was not as hard as I thought it was Just had to strip out the
dependency file out of pkgtools and I was done installed the pkgtools from
current ( for debain folks that is our verison of Testing ) downloaded all
the packages plus the kernel image installed the kernel image first by hand
( the hardest part of this whole thing was moving the kernel image , sysmap
and conf over to boot and isntalling the source in /usr/src/... After the
kerenel was installed and booted with out issue I cd over to my directory
and did this
OptimusPrime# cd 10.2
OptimusPrime# upgradepkg *.tgz
Slackware intellgent pkg tool keept all my config files except in 2 cases
wher the config was radically different.
It took approx 30 minutes to upgrade all the packages. rebooted one more
time as some packages did require a reboot in order to take affect. and
ther was 10.2
Bottom line is there is dependency checking in slackware packages if you
follow the spec for the latest version of the package management software.
But since Patrick does not do it for every file and only out siders like my
self do it when adding packages to linuxpackages.net i wont count that.
Paul what your problem is that you confuse Package Management with
Dependency Checking and Resloving.
P.S. Even though yum techincally works you would love slackware package
managemtn over the likes of YUM any day. It was so bad they contectiva ahd
to port apt for rpm distros.
Patrick primarily builds Slackware as a "point-release" system. That is,
> Slackware is designed to be installed all-at-once according to the
> latest release. "Upgrading" is tricky at best, considering the problem
> with dependency checking.
>
> That said, Slackware is widely acknowledged as a very conservative,
> rock-solid distro, good primarily for server platforms. Though it can be
> used on desktops, its installation and configuration is comparatively
> user-hostile, compared to the other major distros. If you're already a
> slackware geek, then this isn't an issue for you, because you're used to
> doing this kind of hacking. But as a result of this, I never recommend
> slack for newbies.
>
> But *again* if you use and like Slackware, more power to you. I use
> Debian, which has its own set of perceived "deficiencies". People I
> respect use Gentoo, and I've tried it. I absolutely couldn't stand it.
> Nor could I get it to fully work on my machine. But if you use it and
> like it, more power to you, too. You're a more accomplished hacker than
> I am.
>
> Like I said, there's plenty of room in the pool for everyone.
>
> Paul
>
> --
> Paul M. Foster
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