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Igor Izyumin wrote:
| In my opinion, the best way to simplify installation would be to provide | static binaries and/or binary packages for a few popular distributions. | For example, Mozilla provides mostly-static binaries, and the | installation could not be simpler -- all the user has to do is extract | the .tar.gz into some convenient directory and run the program. The | only dependency they have is GTK+, and that is pre-installed on just | about every distribution.
People (other then the overworked developers) need to take on the task of making packages. Pre-packaging for common target systems is the answer. The developers don't have the time or resources to do this, so reliable volunteers (or paid organizations) need to take this on.
And the packaging should be what's natural for the target system, too. I (the Linux "Me") want to just install rpms for my SuSE or RedHat system, and *not* install from source, because that is how I keep my workstation in order without hiring an IT manager. In the gEDA case, which is a truckload of rpms, I recommend an installer that manages the rpm installation:-O
I (The Mac "Me") also want to just double-click on the pkg file, answer a few simple questions, and magically have the software available on my powerbook. I got the darned thing because it's convenient, not to create lots of work compiling stuff.
Rumour has it there are still Windows users out there, and they do not all want to go through the headache of installing Cygwin and learning what amounts to an operating system on an operating system, just to run a single package. For Windows userss, there needs to be a MinGW port and a precompiled installer a la what is conventional for Windows packages.
I would rather pay someone money to do the package management to my satisfaction (with the source burried on a back corner of the CDROM) then fuss with that stuff myself. The only time I expect to compile something is when I'm compiling my own project.
- -- Steve Williams "The woods are lovely, dark and deep. steve at icarus.com But I have promises to keep, http://www.icarus.com and lines to code before I sleep, http://www.picturel.com And lines to code before I sleep." -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
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