5 ms·

Homebrew was created to add the package manager experience of Linux to Mac OS X, so what gap does this fill? Mac users already experience issues relating to ha

Homebrew was created to add the package manager experience of Linux to Mac OS X, so what gap does this fill? Mac users already experience issues relating to having multiple non-default package managers (i.e. Homebrew and MacPorts) - what conflicts will having a default and non-default package manager arise? The problem it is trying to solve would be better approached hosting Debian, RHEL etc repositories which mirror each other in their structure.

benatkin 12y ago
installing the latest versions from source
- davexunit 12y ago
  There are much better package managers for that. Try Nix or GNU Guix.
  - thrownaway122 12y ago
    Can I get one of these to manage packages installed to /home in Ubuntu?
    - pit 12y ago
      Yes: https://nixos.org/wiki/How_to_install_nix_in_home_%28on_another_distribution%29 https://nixos.org/wiki/How_to_install_nix_in_home_%28on_anot...
    - davexunit 12y ago
      Do you mean install packages to your user's homedir or to use the package manager on a system where you do not have root access?
      - thrownaway122 12y ago
        Both. For example even on my own laptop I would like to keep the admin user's e.g. python and python imaging library as the system python and my general work user's python as the version that works best with the latest numpy-scipy stack and ITK etc.
AlexMax 12y ago
> The problem it is trying to solve would be better approached hosting Debian, RHEL etc repositories which mirror each other in their structure. I disagree, and I think Linuxbrew fills a different niche. When you install something from your distro's package manager, you are actually installing another program that happens to come with the operating system. This has two implications: - It's usually fixed at a particular version for that distro release. - It's installed into the root filesystem or /usr. When you compile something from source or download a pre-compiled .tar.gz, on the other hand, it's not something that came with the operating system, it's a third-party package installed by the administrator, and the rules are a bit different: - You usually grab the latest version or a very specific version from the vendor's website. - The correct place to put it is usually in /usr/local. This is where the FreeBSD ports tree puts programs, and this is also where Homebrew puts programs in the OSX version at least. Assuming that Linuxbrew does the same thing, I believe Linuxbrew aims to be the ports tree equivalent for Linux.
- nailer 12y ago
  Building from source and installing packages aren't mutually exclusive. Particularly because of the buildroot stuff for GNU autoconf apps, you can just grab '/' in the build root and get everything installed by the build, then update the %files from that (removing common dirs, so your package doesn't own /usr just because it made buildroot/usr). OTOH if someone said RPM spec format was archaic I'd certainly agree.
thrownaway122 12y ago
Installing to a users home. I.e. no sudo needed for package management. For example I currently install all my python, R and Haskell stuff in my home using each languages' own package management rather than system wide and it would be nice to use the same package manager for all this. Up to date versions of packages. Some packages conflict in the repos e.g. ffmpeg and libav on Debian derivatives and keeping both is annoying. I would rather something like Nix or Guix over this (and as you say standardisation between package managers would be massive). In short linux package management is great but it could be so much better and this might be a kick in the right direction?

benatkin 12y ago

installing the latest versions from source

davexunit 12y ago
There are much better package managers for that. Try Nix or GNU Guix.
- thrownaway122 12y ago
  Can I get one of these to manage packages installed to /home in Ubuntu?
  - pit 12y ago
    Yes: https://nixos.org/wiki/How_to_install_nix_in_home_%28on_another_distribution%29 https://nixos.org/wiki/How_to_install_nix_in_home_%28on_anot...
  - davexunit 12y ago
    Do you mean install packages to your user's homedir or to use the package manager on a system where you do not have root access?
    - thrownaway122 12y ago
      Both. For example even on my own laptop I would like to keep the admin user's e.g. python and python imaging library as the system python and my general work user's python as the version that works best with the latest numpy-scipy stack and ITK etc.

AlexMax 12y ago

> The problem it is trying to solve would be better approached hosting Debian, RHEL etc repositories which mirror each other in their structure. I disagree, and I think Linuxbrew fills a different niche. When you install something from your distro's package manager, you are actually installing another program that happens to come with the operating system. This has two implications: - It's usually fixed at a particular version for that distro release. - It's installed into the root filesystem or /usr. When you compile something from source or download a pre-compiled .tar.gz, on the other hand, it's not something that came with the operating system, it's a third-party package installed by the administrator, and the rules are a bit different: - You usually grab the latest version or a very specific version from the vendor's website. - The correct place to put it is usually in /usr/local. This is where the FreeBSD ports tree puts programs, and this is also where Homebrew puts programs in the OSX version at least. Assuming that Linuxbrew does the same thing, I believe Linuxbrew aims to be the ports tree equivalent for Linux.

nailer 12y ago
Building from source and installing packages aren't mutually exclusive. Particularly because of the buildroot stuff for GNU autoconf apps, you can just grab '/' in the build root and get everything installed by the build, then update the %files from that (removing common dirs, so your package doesn't own /usr just because it made buildroot/usr). OTOH if someone said RPM spec format was archaic I'd certainly agree.

thrownaway122 12y ago

Installing to a users home. I.e. no sudo needed for package management. For example I currently install all my python, R and Haskell stuff in my home using each languages' own package management rather than system wide and it would be nice to use the same package manager for all this. Up to date versions of packages. Some packages conflict in the repos e.g. ffmpeg and libav on Debian derivatives and keeping both is annoying. I would rather something like Nix or Guix over this (and as you say standardisation between package managers would be massive). In short linux package management is great but it could be so much better and this might be a kick in the right direction?