4 ms·

Forcing me to install things manually is what appeals to me. In other words, a system that has 5 tools that do the same thing slightly differently is against my

Forcing me to install things manually is what appeals to me. In other words, a system that has 5 tools that do the same thing slightly differently is against my philodophy of minimalism. What could be cool maybe is an install time configuration wizard that allows me to select the right tool from a list of variants: maybe have them controlled by the env (like $PAGER, $EDITOR, ...).

Qem 4y ago
Only works if you have local admin privileges. If you're on a locked corporate station, it sucks. Good luck opening a ticket to corporate IT every time you need some utility of package. That makes me get the chills every time Python developers talk about prunning the standard library.
- PhilipRoman 4y ago
  Are there even any technical reason why mainstream package managers don't have an easy way to install packages per-user without requiring root access? I'm not a fan of Nix/Guix but IIRC this is something they got right from the start.
  - orev 4y ago
    The point is that users should not be allowed to install apps that are not allowed by IT/security. So many “legit” apps these days are essentially spyware on their own. We’re not even talking about things that have malicious motives.
- worksonmine 4y ago
  Unfortunately the majority can't be trusted to make safe decisions. Look at how even the biggest companies get compromised by simple phishing attacks. "Hi, I'm your boss can you give me your private ssh key I need to update something" "Sure, here you go!" When a company gets big enough the probability of having at least one of those people ends up being 100%. "Ouuh I can have emojis? sudo npm i -g". Sure it's a headache but when things go wrong it's ITs fault, so they need to be very careful and your niche tool that might objectively be better is another tool to audit in their eyes.

4 ms·

Forcing me to install things manually is what appeals to me. In other words, a system that has 5 tools that do the same thing slightly differently is against my

by pseudotrash 4y ago

Qem 4y ago
Only works if you have local admin privileges. If you're on a locked corporate station, it sucks. Good luck opening a ticket to corporate IT every time you need some utility of package. That makes me get the chills every time Python developers talk about prunning the standard library.
- PhilipRoman 4y ago
  Are there even any technical reason why mainstream package managers don't have an easy way to install packages per-user without requiring root access? I'm not a fan of Nix/Guix but IIRC this is something they got right from the start.
  - orev 4y ago
    The point is that users should not be allowed to install apps that are not allowed by IT/security. So many “legit” apps these days are essentially spyware on their own. We’re not even talking about things that have malicious motives.
- worksonmine 4y ago
  Unfortunately the majority can't be trusted to make safe decisions. Look at how even the biggest companies get compromised by simple phishing attacks. "Hi, I'm your boss can you give me your private ssh key I need to update something" "Sure, here you go!" When a company gets big enough the probability of having at least one of those people ends up being 100%. "Ouuh I can have emojis? sudo npm i -g". Sure it's a headache but when things go wrong it's ITs fault, so they need to be very careful and your niche tool that might objectively be better is another tool to audit in their eyes.