Push Button Paradise
Micah Dubinko
Tue, 24 Jan 2006
Linux makes me feel dumb
Setting up software on Linux (or BSD, or Darwin, or similar systems) always
makes me feel stupid. I need things to be simple, so that valuable swap space in
my mind isn't taken up remembering whether to run 'make' or 'gmake', or whether
a command takes zero, one, or two dashes on parameters, or whether different
kinds of paths are configured through an environment variable (or even
remembering how to permanently set an environment variable) or some file named
ld.so.conf.d or whatever.
I'll bet of my last ten significant *nix software installs, nine haven't gone smoothly. Part of the problem is that I try to follow directions, with documentation that normally skips or glosses over important steps. And I still get uncomfortable when I run a make install that blasts a bunch of files and/or symlinks into /usr/somewhere--what if I want to uninstall it some day? I always envision picking through dozens of directories, manually pruning files.
Coming to a new system, how do you tell whether some software isn't already installed somewhere off-path? It's a mess.
Don't even get me started on RPM. Most sites these days offer a staggering array of different choices for RPMs, depending on all kinds of details of which Red Hat/Fedora installation you are running, processor details, and other factors I didn't even recognize--all information that itself isn't obvious to locate.
OK, as long as I'm ranting, what would a decent system look like? Hmm, let's see. There should be a single folder, let's call it "Applications", in which individual applications, which themselves are full little directory trees but can be manipulated like single entities, are stored. Deleting an application is then simple, just delete the whole bundle. Installing is just adding a bundle. A similar folder, let's call it "Frameworks" could hold more library-ish stuff. Yes, this all sounds very familiar. But why can't it work for all kinds of applications--databases, servers, compilers, programming languages, and so on--instead of just the GUI stuff? -m
posted at: 23:16 | under: 2006-01 | 3 comment(s)
After switching last year to Mac OSX I find it completely comfortable now.
Ubuntu linux distro does surprisingly well at abstracting some of this mess, though I personally find it more comforting to do ./configure, make, make test, make install cycle rather then depend on rpm's, apt, etc...
gl, Jim Fuller
Posted by Jim Fuller at Wed Jan 25 01:58:44 2006
Instead when I actually encounter some software where my Distribution (Debian) doesn't already provide packages I can install with the three magic words "apt-get install whatever" - and I really need that software, usually I'll just ignore it if it doesn't exist in Debian - I use the Debian packaging tools to just build my own package for it.
Because then I won't have to remember how to uninstall it... I build it in a virtual cleanroom environment, then install the resulting package. Works in 99% of all cases. And I can then uninstall it just like any other software on my system - again with three magic words "apt-get remove whatever".
Ubuntu might be an easier choice for you, though. You have just about the same benefits as with Debian.
Posted by Erich Schubert at Sat Jan 28 09:55:02 2006
