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I am not a programmer, and I've used Macs since 1987. As far as I know, I haven't ever used a package manager and don't really know what they are beyond somethi

I am not a programmer, and I've used Macs since 1987. As far as I know, I haven't ever used a package manager and don't really know what they are beyond something that lets you install and delete apps. If I want an app, I download it. If I don't want it any more, I move it to the trash. If I really don't want it anymore, I use AppZapper. Can someone explain to me why the issue of package managers comes up so often around these parts and why they're so important to people?

peripetylabs 14y ago
Primarily, package managers solve the problem of dependencies. [1] For example, if you want to install a piece of software X -- which depends on A and B, and A in turn depends on C -- then the package manager will install all of these for you. A package manager will also keep your software up to date automatically. There are other advantages, but basically a package manager saves you time. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_management_system#Challenges_with_shared_libraries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_management_system#Chall...
telemachos 14y ago
> If I want an app, I download it. If I don't want it any more, I move it to the trash. If I really don't want it anymore, I use AppZapper. Can someone explain to me why the issue of package managers comes up so often arouand these parts and why they're so important to people? You're talking about apps in a relatively recent sense of the word: a wholly self-contained piece of software that you drop into the OSX /Applications folder. Package managers, in the relevant sense, are for installing software (often called 'packages') into places that OSX normally hides from its users (/usr/local for example). A lot of this software is command line software, though on other operating systems, a package manager would also manage GUI packages. (On OSX there is this somewhat artificial distinction between /usr/local and /Applications.) In any case, the kind of software pkgsrc, MacPorts or Homebrew installs requires more work than just "download it". You can download the source code easily enough, but you can't simply download the precompiled software itself, unzip it and drop it somewhere. You have to build it, and this will require lots of other packages and also a whole bunch of knowledge and or scripts to configure and build it correctly. Package managers like pkgsrc help to automate and simplify all of this. If you've never needed anything like this, no great surprise, and likely you never will. But if you do need these things, then OSX poses some extra challenges. (Although as far as that goes, every os has its own issues, no doubt.)
- webwielder 14y ago
  Thanks, that was very informative.

peripetylabs 14y ago

Primarily, package managers solve the problem of dependencies. [1] For example, if you want to install a piece of software X -- which depends on A and B, and A in turn depends on C -- then the package manager will install all of these for you. A package manager will also keep your software up to date automatically. There are other advantages, but basically a package manager saves you time. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_management_system#Challenges_with_shared_libraries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_management_system#Chall...

telemachos 14y ago

> If I want an app, I download it. If I don't want it any more, I move it to the trash. If I really don't want it anymore, I use AppZapper. Can someone explain to me why the issue of package managers comes up so often arouand these parts and why they're so important to people? You're talking about apps in a relatively recent sense of the word: a wholly self-contained piece of software that you drop into the OSX /Applications folder. Package managers, in the relevant sense, are for installing software (often called 'packages') into places that OSX normally hides from its users (/usr/local for example). A lot of this software is command line software, though on other operating systems, a package manager would also manage GUI packages. (On OSX there is this somewhat artificial distinction between /usr/local and /Applications.) In any case, the kind of software pkgsrc, MacPorts or Homebrew installs requires more work than just "download it". You can download the source code easily enough, but you can't simply download the precompiled software itself, unzip it and drop it somewhere. You have to build it, and this will require lots of other packages and also a whole bunch of knowledge and or scripts to configure and build it correctly. Package managers like pkgsrc help to automate and simplify all of this. If you've never needed anything like this, no great surprise, and likely you never will. But if you do need these things, then OSX poses some extra challenges. (Although as far as that goes, every os has its own issues, no doubt.)

webwielder 14y ago
Thanks, that was very informative.