Hi Fink Developers, First of all, I want to thank you for the tremendous job you're doing. Please don't take any of my criticism in the wrong way; it's only intended to help. I'm new to OS X and Fink, but have had many years of experience with software development on many platforms, including NeXT and Debian-based Linux. I know it's easy for folks who are deeply involved in solving software problems to lose the perspective of a new user, but it's very important that you keep OS X/Fink newbies in mind, so I'm going to try to communicate the Fink newbie perspective while it's still fresh in my mind. For what it's worth, I think that I'm fairly typical of the open source fanatics who will be flocking to the OS X/Fink platform as it matures.
What attacted me to this platform was its unique combination of apt-get access to the open source packages I crave, state-of-the-art drivers, elegant bundled software to take advantage of those drivers, and tightly integrated MSOffice apps (which I hate but require to get my job done). These seemingly disimilar things have one very important common thread... increased productivity. This productivity is primarily the result of decreased system administration overhead. Turn the computer on and it just works. Connect peripherals and they just work. Apt-get and you've got it. Double click and it just opens. Don't get me wrong; I love Linux, and the MSOffice clones are getting much much better, but the inherent hardware diversity causes one driver related headache after another. Tweak as I might, there's always one more thing to configure. The thing that makes the MacOS/Fink combo potentially different is raw unadulterated productivity. Now, here's where the constructive criticism begins... My first experience with Fink has been disappointing. As an experienced apt-getter, I was not prepared for what I found. First, most of the packages that are interesting to me are only available in unstable, which is fine, but that means that they must be built from source, which is not OK. For the record, I'm fully aware of what unstable means, so I'm also aware how important it is that these packages be tested. The build-from-source hurdle alone will significantly reduce the number of folks who use these packages, which ultimately hurts Fink in the form of lost bug reports. This is particularly a shame since your main Package webpage cites lack of adequate testing as the reason why these products remain in unstable. Not a good combination. So I bit the bullet and began building from source. Biting off too much too soon, I typed "fink install evolution" and immediately ran into the bad external dependency problem regarding the db package. After some research, I did a "fink selfupdate-cvs" and tried again. This got the latest patch for the db dependency and the big build was on. After having flashbacks to building Emacs on every proprietary UNIX variant, I decided to call it a day. When I awoke, to my dismay, I found another bad external dependency problem, this time to the evolution package itself. 0 for 2 on my first package. Not good. Fink's reliance on Fink-external URLs is clearly an impediment to Fink newbies. The simple solution is to make Fink-local copies of all required source packages. The bottom line is that, while I would never want a package that wasn't available in source form, I don't have time to compile every package I need and I certainly don't have time to babysit compiles with broken dependency links. I want to be able to recommend this platform to my many coworkers, but we're not quite there yet. Please keep up the excellent work and make it easier for us non-Fink developers to get you guys the feedback you need. Given the Mac's emphasis on productivity, in my opinion, the ultimate goal of Fink should be a bulletproof binary distribution, backed up by the power of source. You appear to be heading in that direction but with relatively minor changes, you could be headed there faster. Thanks again, Mark _______________________________________________________________ Have big pipes? SourceForge.net is looking for download mirrors. We supply the hardware. You get the recognition. Email Us: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Fink-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fink-devel
