Re: What do you wish for in an package manager?

[Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au>]

On Sun, Dec 24, 2000 at 08:41:43PM +0000, Mark Seaborn wrote:
> "Dwayne C . Litzenberger" <dlitz@dlitz.net> writes:
> 
> > So my question is: What do you wish for in a package manager?
> 
> I want a system where I can install multiple versions of a library (or
> any package really) and say which version I want each program on the
> system to use, possibly on a per-user basis.  The present system is a
> disaster waiting to happen:  If I install a package from unstable, it
> often wants to replace my version of libc from stable with one from
> unstable.  If this new libc is broken it could bring down the whole
> system, when what I really want to happen is for the new package to
> use the unstable libc and everything else carry on using the stable
> libc.

this is the risk you take when you use unstable. if that risk is too
great for you, then stick to the stable release.

it's a small - tiny, even - risk, but it's there.  deal with it.

the amount of effort and bloat required to implement this idea for the
handful of people who would find any use at all for it just isn't worth
it. it's a gross violation of the KISS principle and would greatly
increase the complexity of systems administration.

when i upgrade a package, i want it to replace the previous version -
i don't want to keep the last n versions around just on the off-chance
i might have some use for them (e.g. the last 10 versions of libc6 or
the last 10 versions of xbooks would waste an enormous amount of disk
space). if i really need more than one version of a library installed, i
can compile it in /usr/local and set LD_PRELOAD appropriately.


craig

--
craig sanders