The OpenPKG project released version 1.3 of their unique RPM-based cross-platform Unix software packaging facility.Well known by vigilant Unix system administrators,
OpenPKG is the world leading instrument for deployment and maintenance of Open Source software when administration crosses Unix platform boundaries. OpenPKG 1.3 provides 400 selected packages which include
proven versions of popular Unix software like Apache, BIND, GCC, GnuPG,
MySQL, OpenSSH, Perl, Postfix, Samba and teTeX — all carefully packaged
for easy deployment on the officially supported Unix platforms FreeBSD
4.8 and 5.1, Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 and 3.0, Red Hat Linux 9, SuSE Linux
8.2, and Sun Solaris 8 and 9. Highlights in this version are a fully
worked off run-command (RC) facility and the greatly increased package
quality due to the rigorous application of fully automated package
input checking against programmatically written down style, syntax and
semantics constraints.
I wonder why it’ not used more. Why doesen’t SuSE and Redhat use this for example? Also, why don’t OSS websites adopt this either.
This seems like a great RPM solution, and will be a perfect combination with autopackage.org’s amazing software. RPMS still have major advantages compared to what autopackage.org is trying to do, but as they said, RPMS are great for higher performance and isntalling linux itself.
I doubt OpenPKG are willing to package every piece of open source software out there, even if they do have nice tools which make that easy. I might well be wrong though….
All I’m saying is that OpenPKG could be great for installing core stuff, like YAST for example and than it could still be portable. Because, RPMS major advantage to APs is their performance. At least that’s what I thought.
Anyway, i’m just suprised that while autopackage is maturing openpkg isn’t used as the de facto. it still sounds like its better than a normal rpm.
There is a real need for an easy way to manage packages, make it friendly for companies, the system and users, while at the same time being portable. This is IMO the single biggest problem with linux on the desktop and less but still important on servers. people often switch distributions only for this reason alone, for an easier way to manage packages. Debian is often held in high esteem with it’s apt-get and so is Lindows with CNR and Gentoo with portage etc. Unfortunately these are all centralized solutions and aren’t really company friendly. Once autopackage is used by major distributions, linux on the desktop will be ready!
“Unfortunately these are all centralized solutions and aren’t really company friendly.”
That doesn’t make sense. Whilst the Debian packaging system *is* superior to RPM in e.g. supporting “recommends” and “suggests” on top of just plain “depends”, it’s primarily held in high regard because of the skilled maintenance on the part of the devs, not the package format per se.
There’s nothing stopping you making a deb outside of the official Debian tree (many do, and there are a couple of HOWTOs on the subject) but people will likely be comparatively distrustful of it because it hasn’t undergone Debian’s QA.
If autopackage takes off, it’ll still require a “centralized solution” to ensure at least an acceptable level of package quality, or else it’ll be like playing Russian roulette every time you install anything on your system.
Check out the About Project area…. the SCO Group is involved.
Yes, they’re listed as one of the sponsors of the project. Who cares? I’d personally have no trouble accepting material aid from them, provided it came with no strings attached.
Check out the About Project area…. the SCO Group is involved.
Right, because everything SCO touches is evil, right? That’s why you don’t use the internet, because probably at least a quarter of that is at least indirectly powered by SCO. (All commercial UNIX vendors license their OS from SCO.) And then there’s all their former partners in UnitedLinux, better stay away from Turbo, SuSE, and Connectiva.
Yup, I wouldn’t touch any of that stuff with a ten-foot pole now.
Moron
They don’t mention anything about dependency resolution. I guess that means it doesn’t support it.
If autopackage takes off, it’ll still require a “centralized solution” to ensure at least an acceptable level of package quality, or else it’ll be like playing Russian roulette every time you install anything on your system.
No more so than installing software from source, which is often the only alternative.
Of course, anybody is free to restrict themselves to packages that have passed a formal QA policy. However, we don’t enforce such a thing, it would be a 3rd party service.
Right, because everything SCO touches is evil, right
Maybe not, but i can understand why someone can be skeptical about SCO’s good faith…
I ebant taht debian has a centralized package format, not because of.deb, but because of apt-get, tehw ay it works now, the way they all work now is centralized. Not like in the windows world for example, where I get a .exe from many diferent websites. There isn’t a single place to hold all .exes.
And yes amybe when autopackage.org first becomes ready for general use, most packages will be on a single website, but taht will quickly change.
Lots of people are doing excelent work on making RPM more user friendly, and cross platform. This is a bad thing.
RPM ought to die. Red Hat needs to move into the 21st century. Every hack that gets added to RPM just puts another nail into the coffin of Linux (though I’m sure Linux will break out of that coffin eventually).
Why?
Subject says it all.
Either we got a lot of trolls here and can’t answer my question. Or there is other interesting news on this site.
Eg. “RPM ought to die”
and I say why? Is it the technology, I’d rather say it is the way a distro is set up that is the problem.
Because most people are heavily uninformed about what RPM truly is. When they hear RPM, they think “dependancy hell”. When they hear Deb, they think “apt”. They don’t even know the difference between a package file format and a package manager, and that the reason why Debian handles dependancies well is because of the package manager, not the package format. Heck, for some reason those people don’t even know about Apt for RPM or urpmi, and just keep complaining about RPM!
“No more so than installing software from source, which is often the only alternative.”
Okay… so, effectively, adoption of OpenPKG, from my persepective, will be the abandonment of any formal QA for the packages I install. That sounds like a terrible trade-off to me. I might use OpenPKG packages for when there’s no distro-provided package, but that’s it.
In fact, taking the above a step further, the OpenPKG project might as well drop support for Debian from all its packages except for those without equivalents in the Debian tree. Because, let’s face it, no Debian user is going to choose to install an unknown quantity instead of the well-tested, well-supported debs already available within the distribution.
Lol…
Nah. I think most people *do* see the value of QA, so a central, well-vetted repository will spring up.
Quote from Anonymous…
Because most people are heavily uninformed about what RPM truly is. When they hear RPM, they think “dependancy hell”. When they hear Deb, they think “apt”. They don’t even know the difference between a package file format and a package manager, and that the reason why Debian handles dependancies well is because of the package manager, not the package format. Heck, for some reason those people don’t even know about Apt for RPM or urpmi, and just keep complaining about RPM!
That is correct!!!
but would there be anything better with this than BSD’s port system?
The problem is that RPMs originator, Redhat doesn’t ship a tool ( to the best of my knowledge) that handles dependencies automatically. When I installed APT4RPM on RH9 I had many problems, including corruption of the RPM database, requiring me to rebuild it from scratch after every second or third install of new software.
Also, apt4rpm requires a somewhat non-intuitive configuration
and you have to find sites that provide packages that support it.
Things went much better once I got my hands on RedCarpet from Ximian. Mandrake’s urpmi has always Just Worked.