On Sat, 16 Oct 2010 01:06:18 -0500 Richard Owlett <[email protected]> dijo:
>I gather that when downloading a program, there are Linux >utilities that simplify gathering everything required to run that >program. Is there a site which allows choosing a base minimal >distro and then asks which programs your wish to run. It would >then check for dependencies and "put together an appropriate >package"? I assume I'm totally abusing standard terminology, but >you get my drift. I hope. I suspect you need yet to figure out how distros, package management, and repositories work. "Packages" are programs and their dependencies. "Repositories" are internet-based file servers containing packages and their dependencies. Every distro has its repositories. What packages the distro includes in its repositories is determined by the powers that be in that distro, following the philosophy of the distro. For example, some distros refuse to include any packages that are not completely open source. Such a distro will not make available (e.g.) Adobe Reader in its repositories. Other distros (e.g. Ubuntu) make only open source programs available by default, but make it easy for a user to add a special repository containing non-open source programs. Part of your decision as to which distro to use is whether you agree with their philosophy. In the Linux world there are two basic kinds of packages: RPM and Debian. RPM = Redhat Package Manager. Debian was created by a husband and wife team named Debbie and Ian (get it?). Ubuntu (and several other distros) are Debian based. Packages end with .deb. Fedora and several other distros are RPM based. Package files end with .rpm. And having said that, there are distros that do their own thing as to package management (e.g., Slackware). For a beginner I strongly recommend a distro that is either Debian or RPM based. There are pages and pages of discussion on the net regarding which is better, Debian or RPM. While they are different, in my estimation the relative merits are pretty close to a toss-up. Whether you install a Debian-based distro or an RPM-based distro, it will come with a package manager. The package manager is a GUI that displays all the packages available in the distro's repositories. You simply select the package and the package manager automatically figures out the required dependencies and handles the installation of the package and its dependencies with a simple click of the mouse. No thinking required. If you wish you can also install packages from the command line, and you can also install packages that are not in the distro's repositories. But how that works I'll save for a future discussion. _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
