On 8/18/07, Wade Curry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Stewart Stremler wrote: > > > > I've been wanting a package management system that can rebuild the > > package database from what's actually installed, just for this reason. > > If I uninstall something and it *still* leaves crap around, I'm going > > to reach for rm -rf, dammit. > > > > The fact that "package management systems" can't (easily) handle that > > is a sign that they aren't there yet. > > > > Oddly enough, Sun's package system *can* handle manual additions and > > removals, but the commands are slightly obscure and not often used, > > so far as I can tell. > > > > http://nix.cs.uu.nl/nixos/ > > This link was shared a while back by Trace Reed, I think. I've > been looking at it again myself just recently. The link is to the > homepage of Nixos... a Linux distribution. The main feature is > that it is based on the Nix package manager, which can apparently > be used with any distro. I haven't used it as of yet. > > It *doesn't* have the VCS features AFAICT, but it handles changes > to the system as a changeset... and it _doesn't_ destroy the old > configuration and binaries. You can have the new and old configs > and binaries side by side without them impacting one another. If > the changes are unacceptable, then rolling them back is easy. > > Furthermore, packages are user-installable (no root needed) > packages are installed in their own directories. > (dirnames have a prepended hash string > to make them unique from other builds > with same name/version) > The configuration (profile) to be used can be > defined by each user. > Configurations are stored and can be rolled back > and controlled. > Works with source packages and binaries. > > The website says that one user's installations will not impact any > other users. However, if a second user decides to install the same > package, nix will reuse the first package. Sounds to me like it > certainly *could* affect another user. Packages are removed when > there are no more "references" to it, a la garbage collection. And > are actually deleted from the disk when a command is issued to do > so. > > Wade Curry > syntaxman
I looked into NixOS a while back. I am convinced they are indeed onto a better way of doing things. They are integrating dependency management, builds and installation. I have not had the time to pursue NixOS in depth but would like to do so. NixOS and NetKernel are all I see out there (other than virtualization) that appear to me to be significant steps forward. BobLQ -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
