On Tue, 14 Dec 2010, Lucas Levrel wrote:
Le 11 décembre 2010, Bret Busby a écrit :
It is apparently included in a testing or unstable version of Debian Linux,
yet to be released as "stable".
Can't you install some packages from the testing repository?
The problem with doing that, is that it generally has issues with
dependencies, thus leading to a system haveing to be made a hybrid; eg,
goinf from "stable" to becoming a "stable/testing" hybrid, or, as
happened when my wife otiginally was looking at mono, a
"testing/unstable" hybrid. Mixing versions, to create a hybrid system,
to meet dependency requirements, caused by usinga package from a less
stable version, creates its own problems.
It is a question of for whom software is written - whether it is written
for
It is above all a question of workforce. I understand there are few people
in the SM team. There may be no-one using Debian among them.
Is there no person who uses Debian, in the Seamonkey Project? Or, at
Mozilla.org, in the development project areas?
the users (in which case, amongst other things, it is provided in the
different packages, for the different distributions), or, whether it is
written for the developers of the software (in which case, the design
(including the interface) is designed to suit the developers, and the
software might be released only as binaries, to make it difficult for users
to install, restricting who may use the software).
I'm not sure what you call "binaries"... Packages precisely ship binaries.
So does the tarball offered by seamonkey-project.org.
The .tar.zip or the .tar or whatever files "Simply download these files
then decompress them, using the required procedure..."
So, the question is, are developers of an operating system, expected to
adapt
software packages that may run on their syetem, to be easily installed on
their system, or, are the software developers expected to develop their
software to be able to be installed with a minimum of fuss (and, thus, as
packages that can be easily installed using the operating system package
management), on the operating systems on which the software is said to be
able to run?
Neither and both... SM like many other apps is built in a standard way
that allows ditribution maintainers to easily package it. OpenSUSE for
example does that (packaging it).
Or you could install by hand from the archive. It's not so hard, but you
may lack dependencies if you really are on Debian etch:
(http://www.seamonkey-project.org/doc/2.0/system-requirements)
The following distributions should provide everything needed:
* Debian "Lenny" (5.0.x) (or later)
I am using Debian "lenny", which is the current Debian "stable" version.
"etch" is now "oldstable" and obsolete.
So did you even try to install the package offered on
seamonkey-project.org? I just cited their page telling Lenny fulfills the
requirements!
No, I do not try dealing with .tar and .tar.zip or whatever files
anymore, for installing software. I have previously stated that my
experience of what has been involved, is horrenous - it is like
something out of a kafkaesque nightmare. It is as pleasant as
repeatedly bashing your head against a brick wall, until the skull
fractures, which, I understand, some people do, but, it is not for me.
Installing the binary, or whatever the tar/zip or whatever files is, is,
from
my experience, messy and difficult, and I had done that in the past, with a
netscape or mozilla browser suite, and ended up having to instal, seven
dfirectories down.
You seem to mix "binaries" and "sources". The tarball on
seamonkey-project.org has ready-to-use software. No compiling required.
Whatever is the nature of the file that is to be downloaded, it is one
of those .tar.zip things, which, to me, is "to be avoided at all costs".
It has been my experience, that, for the most part, Debian has been a more
stable system than some others, and, that package installation and
maintenance, when using the Debian package management, has been superior.
Debian stability is at the cost of old software versions. I'd recommend,
as Robert did, openSUSE, which is actively maintained, and has a reactive
community (very helpful forums), recent software, and an easy-to-use and
well documented administration tool.
I have similarly tried Ubuntu, that has been similarly portrayed, and
the experience was not good.
--
LL
--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............
"So once you do know what the question actually is,
you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
A Trilogy In Four Parts",
written by Douglas Adams,
published by Pan Books, 1992
....................................................
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