In the Free and Open Source communities we are proud of our 'bazaar' model, where anyone can join in by setting up a project and publishing their programs. Users are free to pick and choose whatever software they want... provided they're happy to compile from source, resolve dependencies manually and give up automatic security and feature updates. In this essay, I introduce 'decentralised' installation systems, such as Autopackage and Zero Install, which aim to provide these missing features.
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Member since:2005-08-15
Ubuntu and Debian are the perfect examples showing why decentralised packaging is a BAD idea. If two systems that are so closely related to each other as they are, using the same packaging and installing system, succeed in creating incompatible binary packages, how should a decentralised packaging system solve binary incompatabilities between let's say Red Hat and Debian.
The problem this article about decentralised installation tries to solve is a closed-source problem. If an open-source programmer can't get his open source program into the main tree of distributions, he can provide .deb and .rpm packages. The user can install them quite easily (richt click: install package (in kubuntu and ubuntu that is)), and i.e. apt-get will search for dependencies on the centralised system. It's more work for the maintainer in the beginning (and a lot of work for closed-source programmers to provide .debs and .rpms for all distro's, Opera seems to like this way of working though), but afterwards when distributions start packaging his program he'll get more peer review by actual programmers who compile and support his packages.
This week seems to be about porting problems from the windows world to the FOSS world. First backward compatibility and now binary compatibility. They are only problems to people who want the latest and greatest.
Member since:2005-07-12
Ubuntu and Debian are the perfect examples showing why decentralised packaging is a BAD idea. If two systems that are so closely related to each other as they are, using the same packaging and installing system, succeed in creating incompatible binary packages, how should a decentralised packaging system solve binary incompatabilities between let's say Red Hat and Debian.
This is exactly why you need a decentralised system: your example is a centralised system failing to cope with packages from two different distributions! It's quite possible to create a system that would handle this situation fine.
Member since:2006-08-02
This week seems to be about porting problems from the windows world to the FOSS world. First backward compatibility and now binary compatibility. They are only problems to people who want the latest and greatest.
Maybe that's because on Windows backward compatibility and binary compatibility are solved problems, on Linux they're not.
Write and compile a program on Windows Vista using only functions available in Windows 95, then take it to a Windows 95 box, and it will work.
Now compile on glibc 2.4 using only ANSI C functions, take your program to a box with glibc 2.3 and it will fail to start, even though all the functions you use are available. And that's not even going to horrors like thread-local locales, where it won't even work on another libc of the same version compiled without that option, and Fedora Core 6's GCC's DT_GNU_HASH, where unless you compile with special flags, AFAIK your program doesn't even run on any other distro.
It's not that people want the latest and greatest - currently the only reliable way to get unpackaged software installed is to compile it, and ISVs want to write software once and have it work on every distro for all time.
If you know something I don't, please elaborate.
Member since:2006-07-28
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing."The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run."There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Member since:
2006-11-24
YES, there are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_management_system#Examples
Furthermore, as in the case with Ubuntu and Debian, a distribution with the exact same PMS as the next distro can still be incompatible with that other distro.