Re: [OT] Scripts, packages, etc.

Jonathan de Boyne Pollard writes:
> Having a package-based system, but then having different rules for "system"
> packages and for "user" packages, is the fundamental error that causes most of
> the problems in Unix and Linux software installation.

I'm not sure whether it's the most common, although it's certainly easy
to spot. Here are some other examples of installation failures:

   * I type ``md5'' and see ``md5: Command not found,'' even though the
     documentation claims that md5 is installed. (The OS distributor
     decided to move md5 out of the default user path.)

   * After installing a gtk2 package, I decide to go back to gtk1.
     Removing the gtk2 package doesn't work; I have to go search for a
     gtk1 package. (The gtk2 package has wiped out the gtk1 files.)

   * I install a binary package. It finds the libiconv package that it
     needs, and installs that. Suddenly other programs break. (The
     package manager didn't realize that a newer version of libiconv,
     needed for those other programs, was already installed.)

Every sysadmin seems to have a hundred horror stories. On the other
hand, UNIX distributors seem to think that everything is just fine.
Depressing.

---D. J. Bernstein, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics,
Statistics, and Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago