Re: RPM Limitations (was: while i'm at it)

["Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH" <allbery kf8nh apk net>]

On Tuesday, October 30, 2001 20:36:52 -0800, George Pajari 
<George.Pajari@Faximum.com> wrote:
+-----
| While we have little choice but to live within the restrictions of the
| existing RPM approach (at least for the foreseeable future), it is pretty
| obvious that not paying any attention to the need to configure software
| is a major shortcoming of the RPM architecture.
+--->8

Ummm, what?  RPM isn't in that business.  Anaconda (Red Hat) and YaST 
(SuSE) (and Mandrake has something as well IIRC) are layers on top of RPM 
which add configuration, etc; it seems to work pretty well for most people.

| While this limitation can be brushed aside with trite sayings such as "rpm
| is an installation tool, not a configuration tool", it ignores the fact
+--->8

No, it *acknowledges* the fact that it's for an operating system designed 
around the concept of separate tools for separate functions, as opposed to 
unstable, teetering monoliths that get in each others' way like on certain 
other OSes.

--
brandon s. allbery  [os/2][linux][solaris][freebsd]   allbery@kf8nh.apk.net
system administrator   [JAPH][WAY too many hats]        allbery@ece.cmu.edu
electrical and computer engineering                                   KF8NH
carnegie mellon university     [linux: proof of the million monkeys theory]