Cross Platform Packaging: A Dream Or Something More?

stevenl writes "A new project on sourceforge has just been set up for a cross-platform packaging standard. Whilst there isn't much there at the moment, plans are to produce a standard that will allow people to use it even if they have no binary utilities or a compiler to compile one with, and it's expected to be platform independent whilst still being lightweight. What's people's opinions of the cross-platform aspect taking off, or will we see another situation like we have with DPKG - great packaging sysetm, but not widely used due to the inferior (but still good) RPM and proprietary things like installshield?" Frankly, apt-get ^[?] does just about everything that I need - but I'm curious as to what people about something like this actually working - is it a pipe dream? Or possible?

Comments

The problem is in the dependency database

[duffbeer703]

What we need is a packaging system that can correctly detect whether or not dependent packages are installed without having to have a database. The package manager needs to be aware of the differences between platforms.

The problem is, inevitably, the database will get out of sync the moment you have to compile something from source because no .deb or .rpm file is available right then, or because you have a local patch to fix a bug you need which isn't important enough for enough other people for the author(s) to fix right now (or maybe is to complicated for them to figure out how to roll it back in without breaking things for other people that you don't happen to need to worry about). Even buying software that uses install shield or some other installer will mess up everything.

Once the database is out of sync, then new problems come up, and those are easily fixed by forcing an install or installing from source, and then it just gets worse.

Without a database, it would mean the installer would have to have a way to detect whether the dependent thing is installed or not, and in the correct version. I won't say that would be easy, but it is what would be needed. Until then, based on my past experiences with Redhat's RPM, I won't at all be interested in a fancy packaging system.

Yes, because OS's are becoming irrelevant.

[Kiss the Blade]

We all know that the future does not lie with any particular OS. We have been repeatedly told this for some time now. Other platforms have been doing thier best to grab this, as we can see with Solaris (Java) and Windows (.NET). In the future, which OS you run will not be important. When I use my computer, I already spend the majority of my time on the web. In 10 or 15 years, things will be fast enough for entire applications to be run on the web, and my local terminal will just be used to store data and connect to the web.

The thing that people forget is that this is a good thing. What Linux needs is to develop a cross platform packaging system such as this so that the web can utilise it, and so that the Linux system is at the centre just when these new developments are taking off. The future is OS independant. If Linux is to survive in such a world, it needs to be independant too.

KTB:Lover, Poet, Artiste, Aesthete, Programmer.