Re: Packaging and installation
Nicholas Petreley writes...
> Instead, we should define an installation protocol that
> looks for programs and libraries within the filesystem
> itself in order to detect if dependencies are met.
How? If an application needs a particular library will it search the whole
filesystem for the .so? Or maybe just the library path? Will it be able to
determine library versions? By just looking at the name or actually looking at
the symbols etc? What happens if a user has a half installed version of a
library package built from a buggy CVS snapshot. Will that meet the dependency
and allow the application to install?
This sounds like a support nightmare. It would be much easier for users to get
their systems in unsupported configurations. These were exactly some of the
things that packaging systems were created to solve. Use a package system to
solve them.
Unfortunately, like Stuart said, I am complaining rather than offering a
proposal.
--
Matt Taggart
taggart@fc.hp.com
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