linux = impossible? (no offense meant!)

David J Patrick davidjpatrick-rieW9WUcm8FFJ04o6PK0Fg at public.gmane.org
Sat Nov 8 17:58:37 UTC 2003


Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill wrote:

>There are a couple of things which make installing Linux software so
>much more difficult:
>
> - Dependencies.  (This is my gripe.)  In order to get application A
>   working, you need B, C, and D.  In order to get library C working,
>   you need E.  Quite often, this is the fault of the packager and
>   not the developer (ie. there are many packages where a library is
>   optional, but the package maintainer feels that every user wants
>   every feature).  Once a package get beyond two levels of
>   dependencies, I start reconsidering its value.
>
> - Choice.  In order to satisfy need A, you have the choice between
>   A, B, C, ..., J.  You don't know what these 10 applications are,
>   because you have never heard of them before.  Worse yet, at least
>   five of them are crap (were partially developed, then everybody lost
>   interest) and at least three of them were designed for the esoteric
>   tastes of computer obsessives.  Of course, since you don't know
>   anything about any of this software, you are left to discover the bad
>   apples for yourself.
>
>Is it possible to fix these problems? 
>
Well clearly you have never seen a decent package manager in action.
Synaptic, Kpackage, Gnome-apt and others make installing software EASIER 
than Windoze.
You don't even have to download an install program and run it, just pick 
from the huge lists of available software and click "install".
Dependencies are a NON-ISSUE in 90% of cases. This is not always true 
for more obscure programs, but for the vast majority it's a breeze !
The situation is getting better all the time as package managers learn 
to use sources designed for other systems.
    Dependencies area fact of linux life, allowing programmers to "stand 
on the shoulders of giants".
    Dependency hell, however is slowly fading to a dim memory.

As to users morbid fear of the command line; It's a lot like learning 
how to maintain your car.
Some users (drivers) will only ever do things with a GUI (full service 
station).
Others will want to learn a bit about how their OS (car) works, tweaking 
settings (changing fluids) optimizing performance (rebuilding a carb & 
changing the plugs) or recompiling a kernel (engine overhaul) Nowhere 
does it say that you have to learn this stuff, linux (your car) will run 
fine from only the GUI (service station) but if something goes a little 
strange wouldn't you want to be the king of guy (or gal) who has a few 
tools and knows how the thing works ?
    Happy travels !,
djp

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