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I think it would be relevant to this discussion to point out the flaws in Nix rather than vaguely refer to them. Please explain how to make the more complete to

I think it would be relevant to this discussion to point out the flaws in Nix rather than vaguely refer to them. Please explain how to make the more complete tool from any of the 5 package managers you mentioned. If I were to grant your comment the same amount of charity as you have granted this project, I would summarize it as, "This project has problems like all the rest. If you don't make it better, it's lame."

peterwwillis 11y ago
When a corporation makes a tool, it's to do some job it needs to do. Usually features are added over time to provide for the requirements of its users and various teams. In this way, it only does what it needs to do, and is usually kept around a long time, used by everyone, and rarely replaced, because it can always be modified to fit a new feature. It ends up being pretty feature-complete and useful (which is sad because they usually end up locked up as intellectual property). Non-corporate tools, on the other hand, are typically made by people who need to do something and want to do it their own way. It's not that they couldn't make due with an existing tool - the functionality probably existed in another tool or tools - they just want to do it differently, with some kind of interesting twist. The end result? Reinventing the wheel with maybe one new feature, and missing all the ones they didn't need/want. Do this a hundred times and you have a hundred tools that are useful to some people, but not most people. I'm not saying it's lame, i'm saying it's a waste of engineering effort.
- narrowrail 11y ago
  This comment demonstrates that you do not have any criticism at all regarding this project. While reading it I could only think of Visual Source Safe and Git, which I believe counters your entire premise.
  - peterwwillis 11y ago
    Git was created basically because there wasn't an open source implementation of BitKeeper, and BitKeeper was unique in its function. If at all possible Torvalds would have stayed away from making Git (in fact he said so himself). This is different than reinventing a wheel with existing functionality. I don't see how VSS relates, since it's used for different things (like comparing Oracle to SQLite?)

peterwwillis 11y ago

When a corporation makes a tool, it's to do some job it needs to do. Usually features are added over time to provide for the requirements of its users and various teams. In this way, it only does what it needs to do, and is usually kept around a long time, used by everyone, and rarely replaced, because it can always be modified to fit a new feature. It ends up being pretty feature-complete and useful (which is sad because they usually end up locked up as intellectual property). Non-corporate tools, on the other hand, are typically made by people who need to do something and want to do it their own way. It's not that they couldn't make due with an existing tool - the functionality probably existed in another tool or tools - they just want to do it differently, with some kind of interesting twist. The end result? Reinventing the wheel with maybe one new feature, and missing all the ones they didn't need/want. Do this a hundred times and you have a hundred tools that are useful to some people, but not most people. I'm not saying it's lame, i'm saying it's a waste of engineering effort.

narrowrail 11y ago
This comment demonstrates that you do not have any criticism at all regarding this project. While reading it I could only think of Visual Source Safe and Git, which I believe counters your entire premise.
- peterwwillis 11y ago
  Git was created basically because there wasn't an open source implementation of BitKeeper, and BitKeeper was unique in its function. If at all possible Torvalds would have stayed away from making Git (in fact he said so himself). This is different than reinventing a wheel with existing functionality. I don't see how VSS relates, since it's used for different things (like comparing Oracle to SQLite?)