There are some products that ship you a tar ball that has the world - things for aix, ppc, hp-ux, s390x, i86, x64, and who knows what else. That takes network transmission time, disk space, cleanup, etc. If you've got bunches of servers to install it on and have to run a script that then picks out the appropriate rpm, you've got to drag that around to all of them or else dissect it yourself. And everything should be installable without prompts for automation reasons.
Marcy -----Original Message----- From: Linux on 390 Port [mailto:LINUX-390@VM.MARIST.EDU] On Behalf Of Scott Rohling Sent: Friday, January 23, 2015 11:52 AM To: LINUX-390@VM.MARIST.EDU Subject: Re: [LINUX-390] What are your feelings about non-RPM installers for Linux? We were talking about rpm's being included as 'part' of the tarball -- along with a bunch of application code that is installed via tar and install scripts, etc. The rpm's get included as a 'prerequisite' for all of their code to work. So you issue some rpm commands (after working out everything 'they' rely on) to install them from local, rather then a trusted repository. And then you issue a series of scripts and commands to get the product installed and configured. And it isn't like it means redeveloping the world.. the install scripts and processes used just need to be put inside an rpm and adhere to some standardization - they can include the tarballs in the rpm - etc etc. Using tar to send things around (including a bunch of rpm's) is just fine... Having packaging built around tarred application code and install scripts is not. Including rpm's is almost adding insult to injury because it's obvious they 'know' the right way to package things AND packaging an rpm via that process is a terrible way to distribute rpm's through the 'back door' (they should come from a trusted repo). AND if you have to shoehorn those rpm's in.. then you have to wonder if you're just shooting yourself in the foot. :soapbox.off Scott Rohling On Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 10:34 AM, Pavelka, Tomas <tomas.pave...@ca.com> wrote: > Just to explain what I am trying to do: over the years I have been > involved in multiple discussions about installations that involved > people supporting different platforms. It is often difficult to > convince everyone that RPM is the right thing to do and that > interactive installers are not a good idea on Linux. So I thought that > the convincing could be easier if I could point to actual zLinux users > supporting this idea. > > However, I do not follow the part about why putting RPMs in a tarball > is evil. I see tarball as just a transport vehicle. The vendor puts a > bunch of RPMs in a tarball for a single file download, the end user > unpacks it and proceeds as normal with the RPMs. What am I missing > here? Could you give me an example where the tarball makes the workflow > difficult? > > Thanks, > Tomas > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send > email to lists...@vm.marist.edu with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or > visit > http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For more information on Linux on System z, visit > http://wiki.linuxvm.org/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@vm.marist.edu with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information on Linux on System z, visit http://wiki.linuxvm.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@vm.marist.edu with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information on Linux on System z, visit http://wiki.linuxvm.org/
