[LUNI] Why RPM instead of tar.gz

[Jean-Michel Smith]

On Mon, 19 Nov 2001 02:43:50 -0600
"GMC-jimmy" <gmc.jimmy at home.com> wrote:

> Have you ever done a --force or --nodeps to install an rpm ?
>
> [...] 
>
> I've used Red Hat for about 4 years now, and I've become quite
discontent 
> with the rpm package management system. I don't think it's entirely Red
Hat's 
> fault, as much as I blame 3rd party packages. Since the last year or so,
I've 
> always opted to install via source (tar.gz/cvs), and compile all my
"extras" 
> locally. By doing that, I've also managed to cut down on my monthly
Asprin 
> consumption. :)

I'd have to second this discontent with RPM.  It is the main reason I
switched from Mandrake (which was otherwise a very nice system with the
smoothest install I've ever seen) to Debian (which has a fairly demanding
install, but oh so worth the trouble).  With Debians .debs and apt-get one
can maintain and upgrade a system with virtually no hassle whatsoever. 
Even nicer in some ways is FreeBSD's /ports packages, which automagically
download and compile packages with a simple "make" install.  (apt-get
source [package] --compile; dpkg -i [package].deb is similiar.)

It is more than a little tragic that Christoph Pfister has resigned from
the Fink project ... it was successfully combining the best of both
Debians packaging system (dependency resolution and the like), and the
FreeBSD /ports "get the latest source and compile against the currently
installed libs on the system, as long as they meet minimim requirement"
approach.  I was hoping for a little cross polination from the Fink
project (which is aimed at MacOS X) down the road.

Your preference for *.tar.gz files (and cvs source) is shared by many
(myself included).

good luck,

Jean.
-- 
Jean-Michel Smith, N6708R - PGP Public Key: 4D625DF6 (wwwkeys.pgp.net)
* Strength and Honor.
* Kindness and Support to our Friends and to Americans of every 
  ethnic and social background.  
* Death to our Enemies.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://luni.org/pipermail/luni/attachments/20011119/dab877f5/attachment.bin