Aaron J. Seigo wrote: > clarification: > > rpm and apt are not even the same sort of software. rpm is a package file > format and system, apt is a distribution and package selection mechanism. apt > even works with rpm these days.
I used the terms rpm and apt as umbrella terms I guess, to imply both all aspects of linux package creation, distribution, and management. > the trick is picking a distribution that creates good packages. rpm has > gotten a bad name for two reasons: > > o dependency resolution used to be a manual task. urpmi, yast, red hat > network, ximian red carpet and probably a few others have tackled that > problem to various degrees. > > o distros that put out poorly made/make packages (this inludes compile > options and dependency choices). since most distros used rpm, guess which > package format gets the bad name for their stupidity? thanks for reading between the lines and making explicit what (I thought) I was implying :-) my biggest problem with rpm and other binary packages, they are too brittle. the install/deploy time options are far too limited and far too hard coded for me (patches, configure options, layout options, ooh especially layout options, I hate some of the redhat options :-). some people, they dont really care about the compile/install options, even I dont care for some (many) packages, but for some I want full control over compile _and_ install time options/settings/etc, and rpm and dpkg dont really offer this, unless I wanna hack the srpm or the rules file, but its like you said, some distro's packages are poorly made, which means making your own (srpm,rules) can lead to create some conflicts. I also find the way some distro's split packages into multiple subpackages very annoying, if I want some package, I want the whole package, and I dont want to have to install the -docs -devel -libs -whatever subpackages in addition to the core package (with whatever the distro arbitrarily defines to be core), this is just too fine grained for me. sure I might not need every piece of a certain packages, but generally, I want it all. I havent used an rpm based distro in a while, maybe urpmi fixes this, I could also get my sh^Wtuff together and build myself some tools to better the areas that I think need help. while I a am ranting, I will also mention that I also dont like how the dependency map for rpm systems basically requires you to upgrade in one huge shot for each release, I like gentoo in that you can update the pieces relatively dependency free. I may look at mdk cooker sometime to see if it would fix this (percieved) problem for me. for the next little while, I am gonna stick with gentoo, it doesnt make me deal with these issue as much. just like b-r-i-a-n I have toyed with the idea of putting together my own distro, tho primarily only to have something to go along with my dream package manager I would love to create :-) Dave
