Earlier this week, we reported on the Berlin Packaging API, an effort to consolidate the various different packaging formats and managers in the Linux world. Many compared this new effort to PackageKit, and today Linux.com is running an article detailing what PackageKit exactly is, with a few quotes from the project's lead developer, Richard Hughes.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2006-12-22
DEB/RPM do as MSI does, it has scripts to configure the package, scripts after install the package and mostly the smartest part: they offer a dependency tracker. The worse is when your MSI installer installs one application that doesn't have a DLL and you get the nice error: System cannot find the dll: mscore.dll version 2.05.2.3 (let's say).
If you want only .DEB packages or only .RPM packages, look that most big projects (look on Opera site for instance, or Skype, etc.) they can work as a MSI file, the only difference, is that they can work too as a dependency solver.
One small issue that MSI have, excluding the DLL hell, which is one of the nicest is the delta package. For instance RPM offers the delta packages, which patch the current RPMs on your system (look on SuSE 11.0 as released soon) and they will not download the whole package (if you have already) and will install only some diff files.
And one small issue that have MSI files: they need a runtime to execute, as did RPM or DEB files, the issue is that you probably as a simple user you are not aware of that in your preferred distro, but you will have no need for them in your Ubuntu, Mandriva or Suse (that are examples only, I'm not a partisan of any OS/Disto) but at the end I remain with one opinion: your oppinion is as much as flawed as I may say that the best threading system in on Windows, because so many applications work with it. (IMHO the best are pthreads, and at least comparing with Win32 threading implementation that is limited to 64 threads/application, pthreads make the threads as LWP - Lightweight processes, and may work with them as many as your OS support to keep as running threads).
Don't do trolling with no justify, thanks!
Member since:2005-08-18
Member since:
2007-08-05
MSI Packages a perfect.
You download it to your computer (or buy it at a store).
Run the installer
Software is installed
When you want to remove it, you go to this central area called "Add/Remove Programs" and uninstall it.
Why can't Linux duplicate this?
True, MacOS has a simple elegant method, but that only works for simple programs.
RPM/DEB, are nice but they require you to have a repository, meaning if you want something, it has to be in a repository. Sure their is the occasional deb or rpm that you can download, but thats rare.