[ILUG] Linux Frustration

[Rick Moen]

begin Liam Bedford quotation:

> However, things have moved on a long way (really), and Redhat have their
> up2date program (IIRC), suse has yast, and I'm sure Mandrake has a program
> that can figure out dependencies. Ximian have red-carpet. 

Granularity of coverage of the packages is much too large (e.g.,
libraries packages include both runtime _and_ development libs), leading
to excessively tangled dependency trees, and there's not a proper
package policy.

With Ximian Red Carpet, the dependency-tree problem reaches ludicrous
extremes.  The entire thing is one big dependency hairball.

> Connectiva went the whole hog, and moved to apt on top of RPM.

It's instructive to note what _else_ they had to do:  They had to start
massively rewriting packages to implement a coherent package policy.  
Also, they have ongoing problems nonetheless on account of the
granularity problem.

> Windows has exactly the same problems btw. You don't generally see it as
> much on installation because every program comes with every library it
> needs, but you'll see it after a while. Also known as DLL Hell, it's a state
> that Windows (and linux boxes now) descend into after a while, because each
> app has installed their own version of ctl3d.dll and now you've got 5
> different programs, all expecting certain bugs in it and crashing because
> someone carefully fixed it.

Actually, the nice thing about Linux and its dynamic loader is that you
can have multiple versions of a library installed, and applications will
invoke the specific version they need via appropriate sonames.

Don't blame Linux if your package tool stands in the way of your
enjoying this advantage.

-- 
"Is it not the beauty of an asynchronous form of discussion that one can go and 
make cups of tea, floss the cat, fluff the geraniums, open the kitchen window 
and scream out it with operatic force, volume, and decorum, and then return to 
the vexed glowing letters calmer of mind and soul?" -- The Cube, forum3000.org