Standardizing every distro

Author Name Status Posted Time Shirly Selkirk 3/19/2009 2:04:17 AM Author is Offline Hi all, I think every distro should standardize apt-get. It is the most recognised program of its type, and it has a great GUI for those who want it. Fedora has yum, Slack as slapt-get, suse has yast, and mandrake has urpmi. when installing mandrake for a friend, i had no idea what it was called. i had to do a google search to find 'urpmi' and even then there was no obvious gui. most users that i know of know apt-get well. what do you think?

Subject Author Status Date Re: Standardizing every distro Dan D'Souza 3/19/2009 3:28:46 AM For me, gentoo portage system is the way to go. But then again it is not for everyone... Post Comments Re: Standardizing every distro Yash Patel 3/19/2009 3:30:02 AM Apt-get is the tool for the job, so i've heard. for slackware i use swaret, probably because it was the first one that i tried and was comfortable using. also, i believe mandrake has an update tool (graphical of course). probably called something unique, like drakeupdate or something ; -) as far as a standard tool for all distros, well that's just not linux is it? why not have a standard packaging system? linux is diverse and will always remain that way i think - no standards.  Post Comments Re: Standardizing every distro Hesus Oliver Pecce 3/19/2009 3:31:44 AM This is a horrible idea.  Yes, apt is a very good tool, but why should we throw away all the other tools because one is more popular than the others?  Half the point of using Linux is to have a choice in the software you run, "standardizing" on one piece of software or another is counterintuitive.  Not to mention the fact that apt is not one si ze fits all. Post Comments Re: Good point but... Shirly Selkirk 3/19/2009 3:34:38 AM Good point, but what is wrong with standardizing a command? back to an example: when i tried to install mandrake for a friend, i had no idea how to install new software with the exception of through the graphical program to install stuff from the cd i don't really care what program they use, but why not standardize the command. (like, "update gaim" or "install gimp") how the hell is apt-get or urpmi intuitive, anyway ? Post Comments Re: Learn to use the software that's available Hesus Oliver Pecce 3/19/2009 3:38:55 AM You not knowing how to use something is not a reason for other people not to use it.  Learn to use the software that's available, ignorance (or unwillingness to learn) is no reason to "standardize" something that needs no standardizing.  As for your other point, why "standardize" to something you like just because you don't like the alternatives?  This sounds a whole lot like the last argument. On the other hand, the one thing that could use standarization is the package format.  It's hard for non-open source software to co-exist with the many Linux distros because they have to provide at least 3 packages (RPM, deb, tgz) to reach 90% of the users.  Standardizing on one package format wouldn't be wise, but a go-between system would be ideal. Post Comments Re: Standardizing every distro Lehla M’meindram 3/19/2009 3:35:41 AM i've heard very bad thigns about the author of swaret on freshmeat's website, which prompted me to use Slapt-Get. I was happy with its updating of packages, but it did break certain things. Is swaret safe in your opinion? And I do LOVE apt-get. Apt-get is a VERY VERY good way to ensure the security of your system. My server did apt-get update at 1am every morning, and apt-get upgrade at 2am every morning, then apt-get clean every other day or so. Now, one thing you should consider on this case - apt-get is extremely important in redhat/fedora, because they tend to install everything on yoru system and run it on boot... slackware and gentoo dont do this (and im sure other distros dont also). Having everything run by default is not secure, so updating of packages you dont know exist is important. In the case of slackware - i know whats running, so I know hwne to update it... but apt-get makes things easy. I can see how apt-get originated in debian also.. they tend not to put out new versions of debian for months at a time, so packages tend to go through several versions before the next deb release. So anyway - yea, i think apt-get should be a stanard. Post Comments Re: Another point Shirly Selkirk 3/19/2009 3:36:41 AM Another point: not all of these programs work as well as others. Fedora core 2 comes with 'yum', which from my experiences works about as well as 'up2date' (for those who don't know, an incredibly buggy update program from redhat) Post Comments

Related Forums Re: Installed everything via the root IIS can set folder write/read rights for every user How to increase the timer variable everyday? Re: How to increase the timer variable everyday? Re: How to increase the timer variable everyday?