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I agree quite a bit with your last paragraph. Linux package managers are awful, with the two most popular (deb and rpm) being hellscapes of haphazard poorly doc
by api 8y ago
I agree quite a bit with your last paragraph. Linux package managers are awful, with the two most popular (deb and rpm) being hellscapes of haphazard poorly documented cruft.
Linux distributions are also harder to deal with than the Apple Store, an "accomplishment" given how bad that is. Getting a package into them is terrible. They are informal cliques, and that worked back in the 90s but now doesn't scale.
Package management in general is an area ripe for a complete overhaul. Unfortunately that's hard, and it's hard not to fall into the "second system effect" trap and create something even more unwieldy than what you are replacing. Look at systemd.
- rspeer 8y agoIndeed, I tried to learn how to make a Debian package. A proper one that followed the guidelines (even though I wasn't trying to get it into a repo), not just one that's shoddily converted from another format. The tools are just a bunch of hacks designed for the particular environment and habits of the few people who make Debian packages. They don't even try to document how an outsider would learn to do it. Not sure why you added systemd to this, though, except to appeal to the old guard of sysadmins who don't like systemd and show up on HN a lot? It seems a completely unrelated conversation.
- syshum 8y agoWhich is what things like snaps, appimg, flatpak are trying to do
- api 8y agoHonestly just a better package manager could work. Apk in Alpine is lean, pretty easy to build packages for, and works. Alpine is the best distro today, at least for servers.