Re: Which installer? Aptitude, dselect deity...
> PR> Which installer should I recommend to a beginner of Debian
> (and Linux?). PR>
> PR> I remember I saw somewhere on the web an article that covered
> a lot of PR> debian installers, but I cannot seem to find it.
> ol1>
> ol1> apt-get
> ol1> all the gui stuff is just confusing.
>
> But how do you know what to type as parameters to apt-get if you're
> just starting? 'apt-get install' also misses a lot of things like
> Recommends: and package descriptions.
>
> Is the recommendation to someone using stable, or testing/unstable?
> In unstable/testing, I like aptitude quite a bit (though you should
> read /usr/share/doc/aptitude/README first, since there are a lot of
> things that aren't in the online documentation). The version of
> aptitude in stable isn't particularly featureful, so for stable,
> I'd recommend learning to use dselect (it isn't actually as bad as
> people make it out to be).
This is the old "war" again. Different people like different
installers.
I only know two installers (apt-get and dselect), and have only seen
other peoples comments on the other two (aptitude and deity).
The sad truth is that currently there is _no_ installer recommendable
for a _beginner_.
Both apt-get and dselect requires the user to know more than a
beginner would know.
Both aptitude and deity have had the majority's verdict "thumbs down"
at their current state. (That is not to say that they won't be
excelent installers in the future.)
I would have to say your choice is between apt-get and dselect.
If you in general prefer the command line for installation
administration, then go with apt-get.
If you in general prefer somthing a wee bit more GUI-like, then go
with dselect.
You should probably also considder what service you would like from
your installer. Find out what the differences between apt-get and
dselect are. They both give you good service, but they both give you
different service.
Don't ask people their personal preferences in installers (unless you
want to make statistics over how many people use each installer).
In stead ask people to explain the technical differences between the
installers.
That should give you a good starting point to find out what installer
suits your personal preferences.
I will start out right now.
apt-get is a command line installer.
dselect is a terminal GUI-like installer.
apt-get as a standard installs only the needed dependencies of the
package you want (nothing more than what makes your package run)
dselect as a standard installs both needed dependencies and
recommended dependencies (what makes your package run plus some extra
things most people add later anyway)
There are also differences between how apt-get and dselect resolve
dependencies and between how they handle dependency problems. Other
people know more about that than I do.
Anyone care to add to the enlightenment?
Cheers :o)
Johnny :o)
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