Re: Some things GNOME really needs

[Warren Young <tangent cyberport com>]

Robert Roeser wrote:
> 
> I know alot of you think that rpm are great but for most the people that
> use windows rpm -ivh --force --nodeps *.rpm, or whatever would scare the
> hell out of them. 

I'm an experienced Linuxer, and that command line scares the hell out of
_me_!  Why?  You've potentially installed a conflicting package that may
blow away important information, not tell you about it, and will almost
certainly not work itself once all that destruction gets cleared away!

The difference between -Uvh and -ivh is subtle but important.  Most of
the time you want -Uvh: it works when a package of the same name doesn't
exist on your machine, and if it does, it upgrades it.  The only time
-ivh is better is when you want two different versions of the same
package on the same machine.  Normally this is only done with libraries,
because most other packages have files that overlap, and thus conflict.

--force and --nodeps are even worse.  --nodeps is only the right thing
when, for example, a package is insisting that it needs another RPM to
work, but you've installed it from a tarball, so it isn't in the RPM
database.  --force is almost always the wrong thing.  It's just a
last-ditch resort that will probably break your system anyway.

> A. What about programs you have to compile, or aren't RPMs

That's an interesting idea: a tool that knows how to un-tar and
un-[bg]zip a package into /usr/local/src, run its configure script
(default options only, probably...if you want customizability, build it
yourself), run make, and then "(cd /usr/local/src/pkgname ;xterm -e su
-c make install)" -- start an xterm with an su(1) password prompt which
then runs "make install" as root if the right password is given.  

The program could also test exit codes so that it could detect a failed
make.  It could also log the make and compiler output, but not show it
to the user unless something goes wrong.

> B. Its too prowerful for end users

If you mean that it can cause damage, all software installs can cause
damage.  This is the root of DLL Hell on Windows after all.  The road to
limiting damage is towards intelligent install programs, not automatic
untar-and-make tools.  Indeed, such a tool would be even more dangerous
than RPMs are.  I propose the tool above mostly as a fallback from RPMs,
and for knowledgeable sorts who want a bit of automation in the boring
compile-and-install cycle.

> 2. Cool GNOME Mascot/Helper

Maybe it should be a paperclip.  <sarcastic grin>
-- 
= Warren 
= ICBM Address: 36.8274040 N, 108.0204086 W, alt. 1714m