Re: Some things GNOME really needs

[Stephen Rust <steve tp org>]

What you're missing in the idea of an install wizard, is that the wizard
doesn't have to figure out everything on its own.  In the windows world,
installshield is a very common install wizard.  But installshield doesn't
automatically figure out the package dependencies, or configure all the
settings for the install on its own.  It is only a basic framework for
which the developer customizes and adds in the data him/herself.  Then at
compile time, and packaging time it becomes its own program.

As an analogy:  Think of installshield as configure.  Configure still
needs a configure.in and Makefile.in files in order to create the end
Makefiles.  Just as an install wizard will still need some developer
determined parameters to run correctly for a particular package.

An install wizard that is added to a package similarly how spec files
are used to create rpms, would certainly be possible.  It would however be
the package maintainers, or the developer's choice to include support for
this type of installation, if it existed.  The wizard would not go off on
its own and create the entire dependency procedure on its own.  Maybe even
as an extension to RPM.  You click on an rpm file inside of gmc, and a
graphical window pops up, leading you through the install process,
choosing install location, etc.  

You can't have a wizard without a config file, at minimum (for eg.), just
like you can't have an rpm file without a spec file.  Or a GNU Makefile
without a configure.in.

Just some thoughts.

Steve