Re: RPM (Was Re: Deity project schedule problems)
On 24 Sep 1997, Steve Dunham wrote:
> Also, flexibility-wise, most of the functionality of rpm is in
> librpm.a, which has an easy to use API; with it you can _easily_ build
> installation programs and package management tools that handle
> dependencies, etc. (Looking at the source of RedHat's "install"
> program, it looks very easy to use this library.)
Is that any different from libdpkg.a, dpkg-perl, dpkg-python ...?
> Another nice feature is that package installation (post install
> scripts) is non-interactive, making it possible to use the package
> system for large sites.
What about configuration at install time? We can mandate that
postinst scripts must not be interactive (it has been suggested
already), there's no modification to dpkg needed, but do we want that?
> Performance wise, startup time and database queries are much faster.
> I try to avoid invoking "dpkg" as much as possible because of the
> annoying startup time (P75); at work I use "rpm" all the time to do
> file->package queries, file list queries, and package info
> queries. (Another P75 and a SS20.)
That's a good point. Perhaps dpkg can be improved to reduce its startup
time, at least for the more used features, like queries. What our dpkg
gurus think about that?
> Frankly, I'd like to be able to use an RPM based distribution, but I
> want one the quality of Debian's (which is what makes me hesitate
> about switching to RedHat). I feel that dpkg strays too far from the
> old KISS adage (Keep It Simple Stupid).
Well, it is a lot simpler than rpm: one tool for building packages,
installing them, fetching them from FTP or HTTP servers, checking
the integrity of the system, answering multiple queries... is not what
I would call "simple".
Again, I don't see many differences in features between dpkg and rpm,
and the ones that are there can be easily added to dpkg.
It is the deb package format that I find really superior, and
we should ask ourselves what are we going to obtain if we migrate
to RPM.
--
Enrique Zanardi ezanardi@ull.es
Dpto. Fisica Fundamental y Experimental Univ. de La Laguna
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