[ILUG] Re: Installing software on Linux (Specifically Fedora core 3)

[Joseph Kiniry]

Hi David,

--On 20 March, 2005 13:22:58 +0000 David Jamison 
<david.jamison1 at ntlworld.com> wrote:

> Joseph,
>
> I had pondered on the path issue and found the following
> http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-27965.html which
> gave the same solution that you propsed!  Eclipse is now running under
> root and im now working on getting it running under the user account :-S

That is a wise decision. :)

> I had thught that using a rpm file would have been able to do a comlete
> configuration but clearly not

The RPM does completely work.  It simply does not blindly assume you want 
to switch from your working, existing Java runtime you have installed 
unlike, say, a Microsoft app would do, e.g., Media Player or RealPlayer.

> therefore the original question remains -
> wHY is software so hard to install on Linux?

For 99% of cases in Linux, installing new software is as easy as on other 
platforms.  You are simply working in one of the 1% cases.

I think if you tried to install the equivalent set of software on Windows 
(i.e., the JDK and Eclipse, or perhaps more accurately, Visual Studio and 
something like Envision!) you will find that you spend far less time 
getting the Linux system working properly and reliably.

Of course, installing software on OS X is trivial in all cases I am aware 
of, and guess which OS I use 90% of the time. :)

> Or maybe why is the documentation so poor and incomplete?

Millions of pages of documentation are not enough for you? :)

I think the proper question is "why do FOSS developers seem to focus on 
quality software rather than ease-of-use and quality documentation."  The 
answer to such is sociological, not technical: FOSS developers do what they 
enjoy, and unfortunately the vast majority of them enjoy coding, not making 
things simple or documenting clearly.  Some of us enjoy *both*, but our 
time is finite. :)

Joe
-- 
Joseph R. Kiniry
Dept. of Computer Science, University College Dublin
http://secure.ucd.ie/