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Why Package Managers Are Not My Ideal Software Distribution Mechanism
- Doji 12y agoIt should be noted that the nix package manager (http://nixos.org/nix/ http://nixos.org/nix/) already has: * Atomic upgrades * Rollbacks * Reproducible builds As well as a bunch of other solutions to common annoyances all as a result of an elegant core design. It's not yet user friendly though (the command line interface is reminiscent of early git), but I'm hopeful that it can be, given a little time and effort.
- dz0ny 12y agoNow make that API agnostic so I can use package from any distribution (deb,rpm,pkg,static build) and I am in! FYI we also know guix... My main problem is that you repackage every lib and build it on your own, sometimes some patching is necessary to make it nix aware.
- dz0ny 12y agoAnd here we go http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1434 http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1434
- ggchappell 12y agoThis article feels a little confused. > But today, iOS and Android have redefined the app installation experience, and packages seem like a step backwards. I'm no expert on iOS & Android internals. But surely there are packages and a package manager hiding behind the app installation process. What is different is the UX. The package manager has been given a very different interface. An important part of this involves cultural assumptions about what users can be expected to know. That a user might be asked what to do with an sshd config file is not a problem with the concept of a package manager, but with the (increasingly incorrect) assumptions made in the Linux world about the technical expertise[1] of the user. In any case, yes, I'm all for improving the interfaces we use to install & manage software. [1] Expertise and interest. I'm perfectly capable of making decisions about sshd config files. However, I don't want to.