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How come there is so much fragmentation in package managers? Is the on-boarding experience for dev contributors bad for existing options?

• ErikCorry 5y ago
  What I learned from this article is that it's now a good thing when the package manager you use depends on which compiler was used to compile the program you are installing.
  • Spivak 5y ago
    I mean yeah? Cargo works the same way. You have to bootstrap with something and avoiding a dependency outside your language ecosystem is a good way to ensure that the lifetime of your package manager is as long as the language it supports.
    • mch82 5y ago
      For single language projects that seems like a clear choice. I’m more curious about multi-language projects… For example a project might mix Java, JavaScript, and Python. Should the project use all three package managers? When should the operating system package managers (rpm, yum) be used? What package manager is a good choice for languages without first-class package managers (like Ada or Fortran)? When is a developer portal package manager, like Backstage.io description format (https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/descriptor-format https://backstage.io/docs/features/software-catalog/descript...), the way to go?
      • pyjarrett 5y ago
        > languages without first-class package managers (like Ada Ada has a package manager, which also handles toolchain install across multiple platforms: https://alire.ada.dev/ https://alire.ada.dev/