Re: LSB and Debian, Commercial perspective

[Lukas Eppler <lukas.eppler@tempobrain.com>]

I had to install IBM db2 on a debian system. I got it to work, but when 
the upstairs people saw my howto to reinstall in case of failure, they 
decided to do it with suse.

Problem was: the install script was using rpm heavily. Think of it as a 
series of
1. Ask a question, 2. Unpack an rpm, 3. Modify a config file.
Running the script on debian failed since the script checked the rpm 
dependencies before unpacking (and since most software is not marked 
installed in the rpm database, it failed).

I used alien to convert all rpms into debs then, using an option to 
have the rpm-internal install scripts when installing. I had to install 
them in the right order and running stuff like adduser and addgroup, 
some untarring and some directory moving inbetween. I found the correct 
install path _by looking at the log of a suse install_.
I can fully understand tech support getting scared of finding problems 
if this is the only solution.

The suse box running db2 is behind the firewall and is a pain to keep 
updated.

As long as install scripts need to be rewritten for debian you can 
forget commercial support. Until debian is as big as redhat.

Am Donnerstag, 10.10.02 um 18:15 Uhr schrieb brian moore:

> On Thu, Oct 10, 2002 at 07:07:31PM +1000, Jason Lim wrote:
> > Well, I think you'd be in the minority of you don't care if vendors
> > officially support Debian. From a commercial perspective, what 
> > happens if
> > your tech support department calls up the vendor asking for some
> > assistance, and as soon as you tell them you're running Debian, they 
> > go
> > all quiet?
>
> -What- vendor?
>
> (And, yep, RMS would be proud of my servers. :))
>
>
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