FreeLists / openbeos / [openbeos] Re: package management

["Travis Smith" <sage@xxxxxxxx>]

<snip>
----------------------------------
PS I like the debian package management system, they have a lot of good
ideas, like keeping a list of (package) sources available so possible
sources would include : bebits, and boostersignal, and local archive,  a
cdarchive, a software developer's site.

PSS: each package may include list of sources to check (eg a software
developer sites etc), so that these source lists are automatically
updated.
PSSS: packages can be of different formats eg:  tgz, bz , BE pkg , zip.
so we don't need to standardise on package formats, maybe we have
different tools to handle different package formats, including a tool
that handles miscellaneous packages (that say don't include install,
uninstall, configure scripts)
</snip>

The problem with that, is that debian's dpkg & apt controls the install
very rigidly. I wouldn't was such a strong dependency problem. What if
you have a package that is install that will fill a dependency but isn't
listed correctly? Then you have to go though all of these command line
options. 

Though, I will give the fact that you can do a 'apt-get update &&
apt-get dist-upgrade' to  update everything important quite nice. The
best thing is being able to remove the configuration files after a
uninstall. That's something to have.

Having the ability to handle different package types really isn't that
hard. Just think of what gcc really is.

----
Travis Smith
sage at ieee dot org