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Almost every package manager on Linux distros allow you to install packages outside of the main repositories and still manage dependencies using the repos. I a
by kchr 6y ago
Almost every package manager on Linux distros allow you to install packages outside of the main repositories and still manage dependencies using the repos.
I agree there are a lot of distros to package for, but I'd say the bonus of not having to maintain and update all the dependencies outweighs that fact.
For example, there are a lot of tools that can generate Debian packages for you if you don't want to spend any time learning the manifests. I assume these exist for most distros.
- quicklyfrozen 6y agoEven if there are easy tools available, I'd still need to learn them for each distro I want to support. Heck, just figuring out the different names each distro uses for a particular package is a fair bit of work.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoJust use Gnu Stow as a secondary package manager and install into the /usr/local tree.
- eikenberry 6y agoThe discussion is about packaging your software for users, not yourself. Stow is a solution for managing non-packages software on your personal system, not for distributing it.
- waheoo 6y agoMost people don't package their software for distros. Smart distros keep things close to upstream so the burden is small. This is a weird argument. Now you want each developer to manage dependency updates for their application? I don't trust them to develop their own app let alone apply security patches properly.