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I absolutely agree that Windows needs a better package manager. But it does have one: PowerShell comes with one, and the Windows Store is finally getting seriou

by JoBrad 9y ago

I absolutely agree that Windows needs a better package manager. But it does have one: PowerShell comes with one, and the Windows Store is finally getting serious attention from major players now that MS has made it easier to port Win32 apps to it. The huge advantage of the Mac and Windows app stores over Linux is that installing a Linux app allows an app to vomit files all over your PC, while MS followed the Mac model with packages that install into a single location. Much cleaner.

technofiend 9y ago
That's funny, I find the linux package management far cleaner than windows. There's nothing that prevents an MSI or EXE installer from dropping files anywhere on your PC. Sure it may ask whether to install to a directory but it can install anywhere. In particular rooting out a random bunch of numbers from your registry is no simple task when you decide to uninstall an app and the uninstall author chose to leave behind remnants. On the other hand unless a linux package has a post-install script that moves things around, I can just dump where everything landed by a simple package query. To each his own, I suppose.
- JoBrad 9y ago
  I totally agree that the install model that most apps use right now is mostly horrible, despite MS's efforts to clean it up for the past few decades. But registry cleanup is pretty rare, in my experience. I haven't had to do anything in the registry since Windows 98, probably, although I have chosen to. However I was comparing the newer package manager and Windows App Store install models to Linux's package management, since that is the most comparable model. Both installation models are closer to the Mac model, where an app package gets installed to a single location. Universal apps are containerized, and don't use the Registry at all[0]. The PS package manager installs packages into a single location, where you can pretty easily remove them using the package manager, or manually, if you want. [0] http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/windows-10-app-development-appx,1-2566.html http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/windows-10-app-development...
sqeaky 9y ago
Could I get a link to the package manager and list of packages? This is news to me, unless its another one microsoft's crappy marketplaces, and I would like to do some reading.
- JoBrad 9y ago
  It uses NuGet. You can install packages from the NuGet repository, or one that is hosted elsewhere. You can find more info here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/tools/package-manager-console https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/tools/package-manager...

by JoBrad 9y ago

technofiend 9y ago

That's funny, I find the linux package management far cleaner than windows. There's nothing that prevents an MSI or EXE installer from dropping files anywhere on your PC. Sure it may ask whether to install to a directory but it can install anywhere. In particular rooting out a random bunch of numbers from your registry is no simple task when you decide to uninstall an app and the uninstall author chose to leave behind remnants. On the other hand unless a linux package has a post-install script that moves things around, I can just dump where everything landed by a simple package query. To each his own, I suppose.

JoBrad 9y ago
I totally agree that the install model that most apps use right now is mostly horrible, despite MS's efforts to clean it up for the past few decades. But registry cleanup is pretty rare, in my experience. I haven't had to do anything in the registry since Windows 98, probably, although I have chosen to. However I was comparing the newer package manager and Windows App Store install models to Linux's package management, since that is the most comparable model. Both installation models are closer to the Mac model, where an app package gets installed to a single location. Universal apps are containerized, and don't use the Registry at all[0]. The PS package manager installs packages into a single location, where you can pretty easily remove them using the package manager, or manually, if you want. [0] http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/windows-10-app-development-appx,1-2566.html http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/windows-10-app-development...

sqeaky 9y ago

Could I get a link to the package manager and list of packages? This is news to me, unless its another one microsoft's crappy marketplaces, and I would like to do some reading.

JoBrad 9y ago
It uses NuGet. You can install packages from the NuGet repository, or one that is hosted elsewhere. You can find more info here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/tools/package-manager-console https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/tools/package-manager...