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Debian stable has over 69,000 packages, which is more then some languages have…
by bitmasher9 3mo ago
Debian stable has over 69,000 packages, which is more then some languages have…
- stingraycharles 3mo agoIt’s not about quantity but target audience and use case. They solve different problems.
- bitmasher9 3mo agoI don’t understand how they aren’t both generalized to “distributes software with versioning at a large scale”
- stingraycharles 3mo agoBecause they both have very different management processes (centralized vs distributed) and release cycles. They solve different problems.
- cmeacham98 3mo agoThe difference comes from the fact distro maintainers choose the software they package, while language maintainers largely don't. For example, how do you prevent somebody from phishing/typosquatting users with a package named similarly to a popular one? For distro maintainers the answer is simple - don't package it. Debian is unlikely to add a "f1refox" package. Language maintainers don't have that luxury.
- bitmasher9 3mo agoI think that’s a difference in implementation details, not a difference in what it fundamentally is. I’m not arguing that there aren’t differences between the two, I’m arguing that they are fundamentally the same solution (gather all of the software in one location with) to same problem (how can I safely download some software).
- woodruffw 3mo agoThey are very fundamentally different solutions: the entire premise of distribution packaging is that you’re relying on some distribution maintainer’s discretion. It’s not an open index.
- oneshtein 3mo agoThis is exactly what users wants in this case: someone need to check a package and mark it as safe to use.
- brabel 3mo agoOh what?? Most package managers do try to prevent typo squatting!! Your insistence that there’s something fundamentally different between different package managers is just weird! Debian, as npm, lets you package and distribute software. The differences between them are related to policy preferences but the basic idea is the same!
- IshKebab 3mo ago69,000 sounds like a lot, but it's still missing maybe 30% of the packages I want to install.
- LtWorf 3mo agoPackage them for Debian as well then?
- IshKebab 3mo agoErrm no? What kind of a solution is that?
- stingraycharles 3mo agoI don’t know what’s up with this thread, for some reason people insist that language packages and distro packages are nearly the same. There must be a lot of packages for languages that are useful that simply never make it into Debian stable. “Where’s the patch” really isn’t an answer for this.