You can certainly list files in packages in other distros, but the beauty of the GoboLinux approach is that it dispenses with loads of complexity. You don't nee

You can certainly list files in packages in other distros, but the beauty of the GoboLinux approach is that it dispenses with loads of complexity. You don't need much of a package database at all. Reducing complexity is good in and of itself and is always a win as long as you don't lose important functionality. The notion of packages or installers vomiting files all over the place on systems really needs to die. Mobile OSes mostly got this right, and MacOS has been moving in this direction. Windows and older Linux distributions are the only things left that treat the system like a stir fry of random shit. Of the two this is probably easier to fix on Linux, since Windows is hamstrung by a ton of legacy requirements that are much harder to work around.