The standard application manager for Kubuntu is KPackageKit, which I abor.
As for RPM, please someone correct me if I'm wrong--but last I heard the RPM resource database kept on your system lacks sufficient discrimination when it comes to required dependencies--that was originally a major reason it was to be completely rewritten. Has this been done? Regardless of the front end used, if installing a new app creates dependency issues for ones already installed, that would seem a very bad idea...and before I went to Debian-based distros, that happened to me more than once on both SuSE and Red Hat. Has this been fixed? David --- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, Scott <scot...@...> wrote: > > On Wed, Dec 01, 2010 at 08:25:58AM -0500, Roy wrote: > > I agree about yum being much improved and on par with apt. The biggest > > > problem with rpm distros is there is no uniformity. SuSE uses Yast/ Zypper, > > Fedora uses Smart and Yum, RedHat uses up2date, Mandriva uses urpmi, but > > last I heard they were switching to something else. To confuse things > > further PCLOS uses apt-rpm and Synaptic. Whereas all Debian distros use apt > > and dpkg. The commands are the same across all Debian based distros. That > > makes rpm harder to get to like and learn. > > Smart isn't the default, and one has to go to some effort to set it up. > RedHat, and its clones, Oracle, CentOS, Scientific, and of course, > Fedora, which is no longer a clone, use yum. > > I haven't used the others in awhile--I do know that their packages > aren't usually compatible with each other, and I don't know how > difference the uses of yum are between them. > > > > > I will add to that my recent experience with F14. I had several package > > managers installed, Packagekit, Yumex, Smart and Add /Remove and I could not > > get all of them to work from the same database. I would update in Yumex and > > then Packagekit would say it could not find the database and update which I > > had done just seconds before in Yumex. So I would rebuild the database but > > it would still only work in Packagekit and another one would break. At no > > point could I get all four to work. Not only that it would update the > > package list twice, before I installed an application and afterwards, before > > I had a chance to quit Yumex. It seems very touchy and antiquated to my > > thinking. > > > Yumex has, unfortunately, become almost defunct in favor of packagekit. > Packagekit, may, one day, be something good, at present, its developers > have done things such as allow all installs and updates with no > authentication---this slipped by people because the majority use command > line and also because, in testing, packages are unsigned and it only > applied to signed packages. After this made the front page of slashdot, > they changed it, but he left it so that upgrading required no password, > which made it into RH beta. I think it was Jeff's mocking this to his > friend at RH that got it fixed. > > > > > Presto seems like a good idea, but it does not save any time because it > > spends much time calculating changes and testing them when it could be > > installing. It does save bandwidth if that is important to you. > > True, it doesn't save time, due to the rebuild, however, bandwidth is > the aim, I believe. On the other hand, these days, if you're on > limited bandwidth or dialup, not sure if Fedora would be the distro with > its frequently upgrades. > > I use it because for the majority of us in the IT industry, the jobs are > RH based, and at my age, will probably stay that way till I retired. > Your assessment doesn' sound overly harsh to me. > > > The advantage of Debian over RPM used to be stability, but as mentioned RPM > > is stable now. The advantage now is that Debian is more uniform and simpler > > to use. It also has far more packages because Debian maintains such huge > > repos. The best RPM distro in my experience has roughly half the number of > > packages that Ubuntu has. > > > If one combines rpmforge and a few other 3rd party ones, I'm not sure. > RedHat itself, aimed at the enterprise, has relatively few, even when > compared to Fedora. > > > When there is so much talk about having one package manager to rule them > > all, it seems that RPM must first get its act together and agree on some > > standards before they could hope to present RPM as a viable alternative to > > DEB. > > I think the eventual aim of PackageKit is to be able to handle both and > any other formats as well. I don't see too many religious arguments > over it, nor do I see RH trying to make themselves the standard, at > least in the everyday, vs. the business, world. > > -- > Scott Robbins > PGP keyID EB3467D6 > ( 1B48 077D 66F6 9DB0 FDC2 A409 FA54 EB34 67D6 ) > gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys EB3467D6 > > Xander: Hi, for those of you who just tuned in, > everyone here is a crazy person. > ------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from this list, please email linux_newbies-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com & you will be removed.Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/join (Yahoo! 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