Linux fat/bloated

[Marc Lijour]

On April 5, 2006 04:10 am, Jamon Camisso wrote:
> Peter wrote:
> >> cause... too damn many people trying to re-invent perl.  Perl is bad
> >> enough itself; it's on OK operating system, but it lacks a lightweight
> >> scripting language.  However, there seem to be a bunch of perl-clones
> >
> > Imho Perl is not so bad but I wish they had not obfuscated the manpages
> > ...
> >
> > Anyway shipping a Linux distro with 2,500 applications preinstalled
> > requires four nines for zero bugs. Also the dependency tree is at least
> > three deep for most applications. Unless something will be done about
> > this soon (esp. dependencies) bad things will start happening. A 3-deep
> > dependency tree is not sustainable imho. Maybe partially precompiled
> > libraries can reduce the depth of the dependency tree.
>
> Take a look at klik then. I haven't used it myself, but it seems to beis
> gaining a decent following. Now of course, it is for desktop apps, but
> still... You'll notice, however, that OpenOffice is not available
> anywhere on the site ;)
> http://klik.atekon.de/
>
> Jamon


Mandriva also came up with an easier install scheme with the kiosk:
http://wwwnew.mandriva.com/en/company/press/pr/mandriva_pioneers_new_linux_distribution_systems

However, this does not solve the dependency issue (RPMs, debs, still have to 
depend one from the others). Other tools are addressing this problem.
Actually the problem is so complex that the current tools do not find the 
optimum solution for installing packages (and sometimes they find none when 
there is one).

For example, history (http://www.edos-project.org/xwiki/bin/Main/history)  is 
a program for querying a Debian packages stored in a MySQL database filled 
with debsqlfill. It can be directly used on the command line, but it also has 
an advanced interactive mode. You can ask it about dependencies between deb 
packages.

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