Re: Simplifying package installation.

[Derek Simkowiak <dereks kd-dev com>]

> > 	I'm beginning to think we don't really need user-level installs.
> 
> Users need user level installs. Users will do user level installs.

	I agree it would be nice to have user level installs.  I would
just hate to tie Gnome to a particular package format, i.e., RPMs or DEBs
or any other.  As mentioned before, the packaging system should be part of
the O.S., not part of Gnome.

	I think one of the reasons this is seeming so difficult is that
Gnome and KDE are really the first multi-user desktop environments meant
for the general user--i.e., everybody.  Macs, MS Windows, and the Amiga
were all single user systems.  Irix is more or less regular X-windows on
top of a Unix-like system, require root access to install new software.
Somebody here said Windows NT also requires "Administrator" access to
install new software.

	If we require user-level package dbs, then suddenly there is a
system requirement for Gnome that the underlying O.S. have a packaging
system that supports multiple databases.  I personally know of RPMs and
DEBs, but do most other OSes have such an application database?  Is this
really an OS requirements we want to burden Gnome with?


--Derek