On Fri, 20 Oct 2000 23:39:23 Austin L. Denyer wrote:
>
> I hate to compare Linux to Windoze (in general Linux rocks, Windoze quivers)
> but the 'add/remove programs' bit will automagically tell you if you need
> additional stuff in order to run an application (albeit only stuff on their
> CD) and will automagically install it for you at the same time. The same
> goes for the Windoze Update facility that upgrades/adds applications over
> the Internet. If Billy Gates can do it, I'm sure the geniuses (genii?)
> behind the various Linux distros can do it too...
>
I heavily disagree on that. One of the nice features of linux is that one
can almost know in what spents each byte on the disk. Look at one other thread
in this list, one about /var/log full of .x.gz files. People notices that.
Suppose a server in which the admin logs remotely. It has just the basic X
installed. (S)He decides that needs a GUI editor (to be used remotely).
Looks for one, sees gEdit (or kedit), and ends up ('automagically') with the
disk plenty of gnome (or kde) stuff (s)he didn't really neded (just try
xedit, or something just plain gtk).
And think in people outside USA. There internet connection (local calls) are
free. In Spain, for example, you can't say 'ok, spent this night downloading
StarOffice updates' @ not-sustained-50kbits (if you are lucky) and
@ nearly 1$/hour.
If linuxes start to auto-install thins very heavily, you will end with an
ILoveYou.rpm wandering over the net (rpm runs suid).
I'm just very happy with the actual way, use rpm or any graphical front end,
and look at the dependecies and decide if you want all that extra stuff or
look for another thing. If you need extra stuff, download and save it (for
the bad luck of a system crash, you don't need to download it again). That
is one of the things I don't like of MandrakeUpdate. It wipes the new rpms
that just installed.
My point of view it that if you can learn what a control panel is, where
is "My programs" and where is the menu in Word to insert a table, you also can
learn what is an rpm, what is a dependency and what is a kernel module.
--
Juan Antonio Magallon Lacarta mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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