Re: A Linux Newbie's Main Issue With Linux
Chris Knadle <Chris.Knadle-15hjz6xD4c1Wk0Htik3J/[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.linux.usability.annoyances |
|---|---|
| Organization | Aeroflex |
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Paul - > My complaint is with the way applications are distributed in Linux. This > business of getting the application then when you try to install it you > learn that there are dependencies that you have to go find, and then guess > what one of those dependencies has dependencies of it's own that must be > found and installed before you can load that dependence, and there are > four different versions of a dependence so which one does your application > require? This is just insane! Yes, what you are describing is known as "dependency hell" and is one of my main complains concerning distributions that use .RPMs like RedHat, Mandrake, etc. There are tools and distributions which can deal with dependency issues automatically if all of the packages necessary are in the distribution or are in an organized repository ready for download. > If an application needs dependencies then > they need to be distributed with the program. This business of turning > application installation into a treasure hunt is just ridicules! Unfortunately this is something that just makes less sense to do. If dependencies were packaged with each package, a dependency would be downloaded and installed multiple times as different packages that used the same dependencies were installed. Also, packaging source that way would bundle together software from various authors rather than just one author (or group) releasing a program that was just created. Additionally, programs might rely on libraries that might be proprietary (theoretically) and there has to be a way of releasing software that is unbundled. I agree that the huntdown for dependencies and version numbers just plain _blows_... But packaging up all the dependencies all of the time would just suck in a completely new and uninventive way. > OK, thank you for letting me rant; I feel much better now. :-) The theraputic rant, eh? Cool. - Chris -- Chris Knadle Chris.Knadle-15hjz6xD4c1Wk0Htik3J/[email protected]