Too many dependencies? was: Is Linux always so frustating?

Robin Laing Robin.Laing at drdc-rddc.gc.ca
Wed Apr 7 19:28:55 UTC 2004


M. Fioretti wrote:
> 
> In general, careless packaging like this means that custom installs,
> selecting packages by hand, are much less effective, since one has to
> install (and later upgrade/maintain) much more than he will ever use
> or need anyway. It means that more people are forced without a real
> reason to upgrade the hardware, just to store bytes that will never be
> used.
> 
> NOTE: Before trying to reply with any variation of the extremely
> un-Linuxish "Hardware is so cheap" myth, please read the FAQ of the
> project in my signature (hopefully coming to FC2 asap).
> 

> TIA,
> 	Marco Fioretti
> 


My comments on this are in line with yours.

If you have to install a whole package to meet one dependency then we 
are starting to fall into the Microsoft trap of making applications 
depend on unwanted/unrequited applications.  Any extra application can 
become a security issue that could allow a presently unknown type of 
attack.  We see it almost every day in Windows.

If I am setting up a workstation for a secretary and I don't want to 
allow Internet browsing, why should I install Mozilla.  If the address 
book code is required for OOo, then put the code in a separate 
package.  I can understand the dependencies for libs but not for 
applications.  How is the OOo download from OpenOffice.org handle this?

Yes yum seems to work well but from my experience not great.  It is 
hard to find all the packages in some cases and for the added 
security, the package/site GPG-key.

One reason that I like Linux is the ability to install applications as 
required.  Now I may want to install a simple workstation on an old 
computer and the dependencies could prevent me from doing this as the 
amount of diskspace required is to much, aka windows upgrades.  This 
feature is one reason why some corporations are looking at Linux, 
ability to run on older hardware.

I also see a problem with someone that needs a newer feature than in 
the release or test package and must use the tar version or compile 
their selves.  They could end up causing more problems than they know 
how to handle as Fedora does not follow the same directory paths as 
most applications do on their home site downloads.  I have been stung 
by this one already.

-- 
Robin Laing





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