A freak (but not so freak) idea: User space apt-get install

[Daniel Ruoso <daniel@ruoso.com>]

Hi,

A friend of mine came to me with a strange question:
"Is it possible to apt-get install without being the super user?"

At the first time, I said no. Obvious. But then he said:
"And if I execute a 'make install', usually I can define the
installation prefix, so I can install into my home directory"

I was a little disturbed by the idea, but it did make some sense. I know
it's strange. But let's think about a lab at college, let's say I need
to test a software I am doing and that requires another software, and I
don't want to (or I don't have how to) bother the lab admin to install
the software.

Then I remembered pbuilder that actually does exactly this. And I
thought that it may be possible to have an user space apt-get install,
and even (in some specific cases) desirable.

What do you think?

daniel