[olpc-software] No package manager?

[Christopher Blizzard]

Alan Cox wrote:
> But there is a reason you want the package concept visible to users,
> a really important one. Most bandwidth is local in this mode so you want users
> to have a visible concept of giving each other programs. "I'll get the maths
> tool you get the book we need to read and we'll swap over later this evening"
> is a concept that requires users awareness of packages, even if not of
> "installation"

Yeah, I don't think anyone is suggesting that we hide the packages from 
users, the question is how it's exposed to users.  Is the maths tool 
you're talking about one package or one application backed up by three 
different packages?  And where are they installed on disk?  And what 
happens when you remove the maths package?  Are the dependent packages 
removed as well if they aren't used?  How do you tell what an 
application is instead of a library?  What happens when a kid tries to 
share that maths package - is the rpm or dpkg and all of its dependent 
packages reassembled, moved over to the peer machine and then installed 
over there as well?

--Chris