Re: Deselect issues(was R: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?)
On Sun, 17 Nov 1996 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: One solution would be to hade an unhold feature, which sets the status according to the currently-installed status. I don't understand this. The 'default' behavior of dpkg-ftp is to _ask_ the user if they want to get all of the new/updated packages prior to initiating the ftp connection. If I only want one or two packages right then, I can select only those packages and the rest can be retrieved (or not) the next time I select [I]nstall. This seems to be exactly the behavior you're looking for, yes? Maybe I've misunderstood. No. The problem here is that it asks *EVERY TIME* you go to download. Try this: On a clean install, using only 'stable' packages: Go to 'unstable' (to get kernel-package). See how many files you have to tell it to NOT get. Repeat a few dozen times for various packages that you later find you need. Don't use 'hold', as that would keep you from getting updates from 'stable'. You'll see exactly what I mean. | This is OFFICIAL WRITTEN notification that I want to be REMOVED | | from ALL commercial mailing lists. EVERY message sent from this | | account has had this request posted. ALL UNSOLICITED ADVERTISEMENTS | | SENT TO THIS ACCOUNT ARE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL (U.S.) LAW.| -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is .deb still better than .rpm?
On Thu, 14 Nov 1996, Marco Mariani wrote: The installation procedure is *very* important, because a new Debian user should instantly get the feeling he's done the Right Thing :-) Has anyone given any thought to writing a very simple, separate installer for debian? It could contain a very simple set of menu options, one of which is custom install or expert mode which would call up dselect as usual. The other options could be some canned sets of packages (with the required disk space for each canned set). This seems a whole lot easier than rewriting the most powerful tool in the distribution just because it is non-intuitive for new users to install from. I'd rather have written this message after developing such a tool and said, Hey have a look at this, but I still don't understand the packaging system enough to take something like this on. Just a thought. Richard G. Roberto [EMAIL PROTECTED] 011-81-3-3437-7967 - Tokyo, Japan -- *** Bear Stearns is not responsible for any recommendation, solicitation, offer or agreement or any information about any transaction, customer account or account activity contained in this communication. *** -- This message was distributed manually by [EMAIL PROTECTED] after the list initially failed to distribute it.
Re: Deselect issues(was R: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?)
My only complaint is that it autoinstalls updated packages. There have been a number of times that I wanted to grab one new package via ftp install, and came up with 10 megs of updated packages. Here, here...I second this. I know you can confirm what to get but maybe there should be single question to overide this default behavior or something. I am a little confused here - dpkg-ftp prompts you if it should get all the new packages marked for installation or if it should prompt for each one separately. What more do you want? Should the questions be worded better? The problem isn't that I *have to* get everything; it's that it's the default, and the default can't be changed. I ran into this one on a machine that I wanted to keep stable. Unfortunately, I needed to go to unstable to get make-kpkg, and ended up upgrading nearly everything. (This was very early in my Debian career.) I still run into this occasionally when I go to a different site to look for something. Normally, the default is what I want, but there are times when I don't. The problem with using the hold feature is that if I set all updated packages to hold, then do an update, I have holds scattered all throughout the list. One solution would be to hade an unhold feature, which sets the status according to the currently-installed status. I don't understand this. The 'default' behavior of dpkg-ftp is to _ask_ the user if they want to get all of the new/updated packages prior to initiating the ftp connection. If I only want one or two packages right then, I can select only those packages and the rest can be retrieved (or not) the next time I select [I]nstall. This seems to be exactly the behavior you're looking for, yes? Maybe I've misunderstood. -- Lamar Folsom [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~fols9488 Life is wasted on the living. - The Master -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Deselect issues(was R: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?)
Brian K Servis [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Paul Christenson writes: On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Mark Carroll wrote: My only complaint is that it autoinstalls updated packages. There have been a number of times that I wanted to grab one new package via ftp install, and came up with 10 megs of updated packages. (Not bad at work, but can be annoying on a 28.8 connection.) Paul Here, here...I second this. I know you can confirm what to get but maybe there should be single question to overide this default behavior or something. My $.02. I am a little confused here - dpkg-ftp prompts you if it should get all the new packages marked for installation or if it should prompt for each one separately. What more do you want? Should the questions be worded better? Andy. -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Deselect issues(was R: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?)
On 15 Nov 1996, Andy Guy wrote: Brian K Servis [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Paul Christenson writes: On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Mark Carroll wrote: My only complaint is that it autoinstalls updated packages. There have been a number of times that I wanted to grab one new package via ftp install, and came up with 10 megs of updated packages. (Not bad at work, but can be annoying on a 28.8 connection.) Paul Here, here...I second this. I know you can confirm what to get but maybe there should be single question to overide this default behavior or something. My $.02. I am a little confused here - dpkg-ftp prompts you if it should get all the new packages marked for installation or if it should prompt for each one separately. What more do you want? Should the questions be worded better? Andy. They are referring to a packages default status of install after being installed instead of hold. That tells dselect that you want to install this package again (i.e. upgrade it). The only way to turn this off is to do it manually for each package, or to go to a package grouping (like Updated Packages (newer version is available)) and press = or H. This isn't really clear in the on line help though. It seems that you can go to any of these headings and take action on its contents in the same manner. This is the missing feature people want. It seems as though its there, been there, gonna be there, but we didn't know about it. It still doesn't please those who don't want to have to take any action to obtain a hold status for installed packages, but oh well. Thanks Richard G. Roberto [EMAIL PROTECTED] 011-81-3-3437-7967 - Tokyo, Japan -- *** Bear Stearns is not responsible for any recommendation, solicitation, offer or agreement or any information about any transaction, customer account or account activity contained in this communication. *** -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
I think there are definitely two threads that should be pulled out of here: 1) Hints and tips on using dselect 2) Improvements for dselect Personally I had few problems getting to grips with dselect, but as far as intuitive, user friendly interfaces are concerned its a pigs orphan. I know that Bill Gates isn't the most liked person on this list, but I definitely think that we can learn a few things from his trade. Menu based systems may not be a panacea, but they definitely make things easier. Seeing as I have developed menu based systems on VAX/VMS systems using VT100 screen control codes, it should be feasible to do the same on Linux using ncurses, or some such thing. The first thing that any new user sees when installing Debian Linux is dselect. I think we should make his first experience as pleasurable as possible. Even though I have not been using it for long, I think it is a great product, and a great concept, but let's make it pretty. A lot of good products have died through lack of beauty. Simon Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] Old software engineers never die, they just fail to boot Any Trademarks used in this document are recognized as Registered Trademarks of their respective owners. -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
The way I read the dselect discussion my feelings are that most people are happy with what dselect does (even if they don't know it, cf. standard machine configs), but are perhaps not too enamoured of the programme's interface... Simon == Simon Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Simon and a great concept, but let's make it pretty. A lot of Simon good products have died through lack of beauty. ...however, while it's probably true that much _propriety_ software goes to the wall for being ugly, I wonder if this is necessarily the case with good free software? My feeling is that the percolation/propagation model for free software is far different to that of proprietry software. Here it's much more important _what_ the programme does then how it looks, because it tends to spread by word of mouth--users impressed with results--rather than glitzy ads. There is also the fact that there is much better support for getting over the unintuitiveness of such programmes (mailing lists such as this) and also I think it's in part due to the fact that the load balance between user and programme is much better, and more honest, than in proprietry models. Free software generally makes no claims to be intuitive (Point and click---at anything; don't worry! I'll read your mind (and if I can't, I'll try to change it...)), but rather to get a good job done (at which it generally succeeds). And what is intuitive anyway? It's only another type of learned behaviour, e.g. I always expect C-a to take me to the beginning of a command line and C-k to delete to the end; if it doesn't I'm not happy. Therefore I think the question is more of consistency than intuition with interfaces. So what are people's favorite programmes? How could they get dselect to work with that learned intuition? I use Emacs most of the time, so that would lead me to be more comfortable with a dselect that behaved like Emacs does (let's say `g' to scan for new packages from an existing packages.gz file, C-x C-f to open a new packages.gz file, `d' to deselect a package, etc.). Certainly pull down curses menus would be a good idea too (menus are generally intuitive because most people have used them). What do other people think? Is this a useful way to look at the problem? Thanks for your time, Graeme -- | Graeme A Stewart, pgp key ftp://ariel.igeofcu.unam.mx/pub/pgp/| | Please support free GNU: http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/ | | software for everyone. Debian/GNU Linux: http://www.debian.org/ | | Keep a good head, and always carry a lightbulb. Dylan | -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Deselect issues(was R: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?)
Paul Christenson writes: On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Mark Carroll wrote: My only complaint is that it autoinstalls updated packages. There have been a number of times that I wanted to grab one new package via ftp install, and came up with 10 megs of updated packages. (Not bad at work, but can be annoying on a 28.8 connection.) Paul | This is OFFICIAL *WRITTEN* notification that I want to be *REMOVED* | | from *ALL* of your mailing lists. *EVERY* message sent from this | | account has had this request posted. ALL UNSOLICITED ADVERTISEMENTS | | SENT TO THIS ACCOUNT ARE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL (U.S.) LAW.| Here, here...I second this. I know you can confirm what to get but maybe there should be single question to overide this default behavior or something. My $.02. Brian Mechanical Engineering [EMAIL PROTECTED] Purdue University http://widget.ecn.purdue.edu/~servis -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is .deb still better than .rpm?
On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Mark Carroll wrote: It is like emacs to the novice. (cryptic, non-standard interface, funny keyboard accel keys, no menues...) Hmmm - I got on well with dselect from the beginning, without reading any documentation about it, and I find it a convenient, useful tool. grin Am I in a minority of one, I wonder? I'd be very interested to learn what people's specific gripes are. 1) The damn keys. I have installed debian 4 times, and I still have to read the keystroke page very often. 2) The oh-so-long 600 packages list. But I really don't like the Redhat 3.0 installer. It's ugly. If we were to make an X version of dselect, it should look pretty. The installation procedure is *very* important, because a new Debian user should instantly get the feeling he's done the Right Thing :-) All The Best, Marco C:\NGRTLTNS.W95 -- This message was distributed manually by [EMAIL PROTECTED] after the list initially failed to distribute it.
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
Another nickel's worth on dselect... When getting packages via ftp, some sort of progress indicator would be nice, especially for those with slow, not-too-reliable links. | This is OFFICIAL *WRITTEN* notification that I want to be *REMOVED* | | from *ALL* of your mailing lists. *EVERY* message sent from this | | account has had this request posted. ALL UNSOLICITED ADVERTISEMENTS | | SENT TO THIS ACCOUNT ARE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL (U.S.) LAW.| -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Kevin K. Lewis wrote: A la GLINT, I suppose, though I've never seen it. I think it would be fun to work on something like this. Maybe Debian could just use GLINT and massage the backend (and add stuff for the additional Debian package features). Can GLINT be used without X11 and without python? I would like to be able to install packages on stand alone systems without X11 Yours, -- martin // Martin Konold, Muenzgasse 7, 72070 Tuebingen, Germany // // Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] // Linux - because reboots are for hardware upgrades -- Edwin Huffstutler [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Just go ahead and write your own multitasking multiuser os ! Worked for me all the times. -- Linus Torvalds -- -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Martin Konold wrote: I would like to be able to install packages on stand alone systems without X11 I second that! I'd prefer it the way 'dselect' already is working on the console and in an xterm under X11. A GUI oriented installation tool is a waste of CPU time, memory, disk space and man power (regarding it's development) and would probably have no more functionality than good looks. It's one of the few downs on the part of RedHat to have an X11 installation tool, providing only the command line RPM for the console. This was one of the negative reasons not to choose RedHat BTW. Although the present 'dselect' is not cause for joy either... P. *8^) -- Paul Seelig [EMAIL PROTECTED] African Music Archive - Institute for Ethnology and Africa Studies Johannes Gutenberg-University - Forum 6 - 55099 Mainz/Germany Our AMA Homepage in the WWW at http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bender/ -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Paul Seelig wrote: On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Martin Konold wrote: I would like to be able to install packages on stand alone systems without X11 I second that! I'd prefer it the way 'dselect' already is working on the console and in an xterm under X11. A GUI oriented installation tool is a waste of CPU time, memory, disk space and man power (regarding it's Mainly it is a big problems on machines which are not supported by the standart XFree86 servers or on low level machines which are not capable running X11. Another point is python. Python is NOT standard on every machine. I would prefer a much improved dselect. Todays dselect is not convinient to be used. It is like emacs to the novice. (cryptic, non-standard interface, funny keyboard accel keys, no menues...) How about a static linked ncurses version? This was one of the negative reasons not to choose RedHat BTW. Although the present 'dselect' is not cause for joy either... Another disadvantage of GLINT is that it is not intuitive how to install packages from custom user directories. So im am looking forward for a much improved dselect, which makes use of ncurses, menus...) Yours, -- martin // Martin Konold, Muenzgasse 7, 72070 Tuebingen, Germany // // Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] // Linux - because reboots are for hardware upgrades -- Edwin Huffstutler [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Just go ahead and write your own multitasking multiuser os ! Worked for me all the times. -- Linus Torvalds -- -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
I would prefer a much improved dselect. Todays dselect is not convinient to be used. It is like emacs to the novice. (cryptic, non-standard interface, funny keyboard accel keys, no menues...) Hmmm - I got on well with dselect from the beginning, without reading any documentation about it, and I find it a convenient, useful tool. grin Am I in a minority of one, I wonder? I'd be very interested to learn what people's specific gripes are. -- Mark -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
I would prefer a much improved dselect. Todays dselect is not convinient to be used. It is like emacs to the novice. (cryptic, non-standard interface, funny keyboard accel keys, no menues...) Hmmm - I got on well with dselect from the beginning, without reading any documentation about it, and I find it a convenient, useful tool. grin Am I in a minority of one, I wonder? I'd be very interested to learn what people's specific gripes are. -- Mark Suggest deselect could benefit from a line worth of useful keystrokes on screen at all times. Pine provides an example, something like this. I also find it annoying that each time you mark a package that requires dependency work, you wind up reading the help stuff, and have to exit the help. Just take me to it and show me where the help is and howto exit. Just my 2 cents... Ciao! DaveW -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Mark Carroll wrote: I would prefer a much improved dselect. Todays dselect is not convinient to be used. It is like emacs to the novice. (cryptic, non-standard interface, funny keyboard accel keys, no menues...) Hmmm - I got on well with dselect from the beginning, without reading any documentation about it, and I find it a convenient, useful tool. grin Am I in a minority of one, I wonder? Make that a minority of two. I had no trouble getting it to work (unlike emacs); every time you hit a wrong key, the help screen comes up. My only complaint is that it autoinstalls updated packages. There have been a number of times that I wanted to grab one new package via ftp install, and came up with 10 megs of updated packages. (Not bad at work, but can be annoying on a 28.8 connection.) Paul | This is OFFICIAL *WRITTEN* notification that I want to be *REMOVED* | | from *ALL* of your mailing lists. *EVERY* message sent from this | | account has had this request posted. ALL UNSOLICITED ADVERTISEMENTS | | SENT TO THIS ACCOUNT ARE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL (U.S.) LAW.| -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
Just curious: Are there still advantages to the Debian package management system over the RPM system? I originally went with Debian because of the better package system (and because I like the idea of Debian). I know someone that is thinking of getting Redhat 4.0. I told him my reason for using Debian (though I believe that Redhat is a good product), but I wonder if my reason is still true. By extension, if `.rpm' becomes superior to `.deb', will Debian switch? Thanks for any comments. -- Kevin K. Lewis | My opinions may be unreasonable [EMAIL PROTECTED] | but such is the voice of inspiration -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
Just curious: Are there still advantages to the Debian package management system over the RPM system? I originally went with Debian because of the better package system (and because I like the idea of Debian). I know someone that is thinking of getting Redhat 4.0. I told him my reason for using Debian (though I believe that Redhat is a good product), but I wonder if my reason is still true. By extension, if `.rpm' becomes superior to `.deb', will Debian switch? Hmmm - isn't it true that there's work at the moment towards giving Debian the ability to use RedHat packages? -- Mark -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Mark Carroll wrote: Hmmm - isn't it true that there's work at the moment towards giving Debian the ability to use RedHat packages? And what about the rumour that both packaging systems are going to be merged in a common one sometime in the future? I've sporadically read about this in various Linux newsgroups this year but have never heard any substantially informative in this regard. Any information handy someone? Curious, P. *8^) -- Paul Seelig [EMAIL PROTECTED] African Music Archive - Institute for Ethnology and Africa Studies Johannes Gutenberg-University - Forum 6 - 55099 Mainz/Germany Our AMA Homepage in the WWW at http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bender/ -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
Excerpts from mail: 12-Nov-96 Is `.deb' still better than.. by Kevin K. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Just curious: Are there still advantages to the Debian package management system over the RPM system? If I understand this correctly, RedHat put it's RPM software under a non-GPL copyright, and source is unavailable. The .deb software is completely GPL, one more reason why Debian is the official GNU FSF Linux :) Speaking of the FSF, is any work being done on making a Debian GNU Hurd distribution? Is it expected in the future? -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
Rafael Kitover writes: Excerpts from mail: 12-Nov-96 Is `.deb' still better than.. by Kevin K. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Just curious: Are there still advantages to the Debian package management system over the RPM system? If I understand this correctly, RedHat put it's RPM software under a non-GPL copyright, and source is unavailable. The .deb software is completely GPL, one more reason why Debian is the official GNU FSF Linux :) RPM is GPLed. From their web site (http://www.redhat.com/news/rhl4.0.html): License Terms Red Hat Linux is distributed under the terms of the GPL, and is freely available from our FTP site, and dozens of mirrors. For the first time, the Red Hat Linux User's Guide is also available freely, under the terms of the LDP license! I believe RPM has always been the case. -- Kevin K. Lewis | My opinions may be unreasonable [EMAIL PROTECTED] | but such is the voice of inspiration -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
From: Mark Carroll [EMAIL PROTECTED] Just curious: Are there still advantages to the Debian package management system over the RPM system? Several. We support pre-dependencies, which make upgrades a good deal more foolproof, as well as regular dependencies. Debian packages are easier to build (especially now with debmake, it's practically automatic). We have automatic conversion of Red Hat and Slackware packages to Debian packages. By extension, if `.rpm' becomes superior to `.deb', will Debian switch? I think the Debian packaging back-end (dpkg) is _finished_ software. It could have some small changes made to it, but it does what we need it to do. The _front_end_ (dselect) is the part that should be compared to other distributions, and the part that needs improvement. Hmmm - isn't it true that there's work at the moment towards giving Debian the ability to use RedHat packages? It works now. Download the latest debmake package and run man alien. Bruce -- Bruce Perens K6BP [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
From: Paul Seelig [EMAIL PROTECTED] And what about the rumour that both packaging systems are going to be merged in a common one sometime in the future? Now that we have a Red Hat to Debian package converter, we can mark that task done. I think that both Red Hat and Debian are working on making their systems work better in general a lot more than they are working on the package system. Eventually, one package format or the other will dominate the Linux market. It hardly matters which one it is, as long as it's free software. I'm writing to Red Hat today about our policy manual. Maybe we can come to some sort of merge on that. Bruce -- Bruce Perens K6BP [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Is `.deb' still better than `.rpm'?
Thanks to all those who responded (I posted the original question). Bruce Perens writes: [...] Several. We support pre-dependencies, which make upgrades a good deal more foolproof, as well as regular dependencies. Debian packages are easier to build (especially now with debmake, it's practically automatic). We have automatic conversion of Red Hat and Slackware packages to Debian packages. This answers my question. Thanks. [...] I think the Debian packaging back-end (dpkg) is _finished_ software. It could have some small changes made to it, but it does what we need it to do. The _front_end_ (dselect) is the part that should be compared to other distributions, and the part that needs improvement. A la GLINT, I suppose, though I've never seen it. I think it would be fun to work on something like this. Maybe Debian could just use GLINT and massage the backend (and add stuff for the additional Debian package features). Hmmm - isn't it true that there's work at the moment towards giving Debian the ability to use RedHat packages? It works now. Download the latest debmake package and run man alien. I need to do this. Time time time where does it go. Thanks again for the discussion. -- Kevin K. Lewis | My opinions may be unreasonable [EMAIL PROTECTED] | but such is the voice of inspiration -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
