Common problems with Ubuntu

[Oron Peled]

On Thursday, 13 בMay 2010 23:44:54 Udi Oron wrote:
> ...
> Luckily, in 2010, some software distributors are responsible enough to 
> distribute their software in a way that their software is easy and fast 
> to install and does not break anything, even if it is not packaged in 
> the best practice available.

Really? Where have you found those dreamland software distributors?
I have yet to see a software vendor whose packaging does not make me puke.

> Moreover, remember that putting stuff inside a "deb" package does not 
> mean it won't break your system, or even save you from deleting 
> important data :-)

Exactly. That's why the difference between good/bad packages is not
their packaging format, but the (human driven) process to create
and maintain them -- in that respect, Debian set a track record for
years (which we, humble Fedora people, try to match ;-)

> (Actually usually it forces you to install stuff as root).

No. It *allways* force you to install software as root.

Distributions are managing a complex set of inter-dependent software
components, from which users install substatial subsets (1K-2K components
on an average desktop). They have to maintain them through upgrades,
local config changes etc. -- This is huge and non-trivial activity.

You suggest that every user is capable of achieving a similar result
by installing his own software, acquired from some "software vendor"
which is not involved in the packagin policy/process of the distribution.
Also, he/she would install it by themselves (non-root) at some
user selectable location.

I'll try to be gentle... a quick reality check is called for.

You don't have to guess how this model works -- Windows implement
it "successfully" for decades. There may be many people
thinking this is a good/workable/maintainable scheme. I beg to differ.

> So: Speed + Stability + Latest Version vs. "best practice".  What would 
> you choose for your *developer* machine?

As a developer *I* choose latest. That's why I use Fedora (I could have
chosen Debian-testing and have a similar experience).

However, there are many places that have "developers" that need constant
hand-holding even for the simplest tasks. If this is the case, I would
be giving them Centos/Debian-stable because I know me/someone would
have to constantly support them.

-- 
Oron Peled                                 Voice: +972-4-8228492
oron at actcom.co.il                  http://users.actcom.co.il/~oron
"If it's not source, it's not software." -- www.gnu.org