Re: Autopackage Vs Zero Install

2009/7/30 Isak Savo <[email protected]>:
> On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 10:33 PM, Pablo Garralda<[email protected]> wro=
te:
>> Hi everybody,
>> =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 Reading Autopackage F.A.Q. I've just foun=
d a link to "Zero
>> Install" which it seems to have an approach similar to Autopackage. In i=
ts
>> site, there is a table comparing several options, including Zero install=
 and
>> Autopackage among others. Of course, According to its page, Zero Install
>> rocks. ;)
>>
>> =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 Does anybody know the advantages of Autop=
ackage over Zero
>> Install? Better portability, perhaps? Or its just a different approach?
>
> Different approaches to the same problem basically. Zero install tries
> to remove (or reduce) this whole "i need to install an application
> before I can use it" mantra that has been around since the operating
> system was invented.

> Autopackage tries to solve the limitations of centralized software
> distribution that exist in the linux world, allowing more of windows
> .msi/setup.exe way of installing apps.
>
> That's the fundamental differences IMO.

I think the key design concept of Zero Install is that getting a
program should be side-effect-free. Whereas an Autopackage is entirely
self-installing (you execute the file and it runs a script inside it),
Zero Install packages contain no installation code, and are installed
entirely using external tools. Distribution packages are somewhere
in-between: you start the process with an external tool, but it runs a
script inside the package during the process and package files end up
in key locations on the host file-system.

The advantage of Autopackage is the developer has a lot of flexibility
about what happens when their program is installed (e.g. add a desktop
icon, set up MIME associations, etc). The advantage of Zero Install is
it gives the user a lot of flexibility about what happens, avoids
conflicts, and potentially integrates nicely with security systems.

Both aim to de-centralise the process of getting or distributing
software, and the binary-portability features of Autopackage work
nicely with Zero Install too.


--=20
Dr Thomas Leonard		ROX desktop / Zero Install
GPG: 9242 9807 C985 3C07 44A6  8B9A AE07 8280 59A5 3CC1

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