Hi,
ext Steve Yelvington wrote:
> The problem is not with Canola per se, but rather with the overall
> sloppy condition of the Maemo repositories, both on maemo.org and on
> other sites.
>
> Software often depends on other packages not in the same repository, and
> that's not documented or handled in any graceful way. So long as you
> stick to the three or four official Nokia applications, you're fine. As
> soon as you try to install anything you find listed on maemo.org, you're
> venturing into dangerous territory.
>
> Trying to install Doom will muck up your entire system, as Application
> Manager will no longer be able to update repositories.
>
> I just reflashed, and the first app from maemo.org I tried to install
> was the kagu media player. Can't do it. Application packages missing:
> libsdl-ttf, libgdbm3, libcurses5, libreadline4.
>
> Where are they? No telling, but they're not in the repository specified
> in the .install file (maemo extras). My bet is that they're in
> maemo-hackers, but Application Manager can't figure that out. Nor should
> it have to.
Developer can check that with "apt-cache policy <packagename>".
They can also check which packages are installed into which release
by default (these change a bit) from the package lists at Maemo site.
> This is particularly difficult for developers to handle because they're
> developing on machines that are all tricked out with extra libraries and
> -- here's the real problem -- they have to /know/ where those libraries
> came from.
The SDK rootstrap is a "problematic" because it's intended for building
application. It can be used to do (some) testing also, but _real_
testing has to be done on the device (installation dependencies, memory
usage and performance etc). I hope SDK offers at some point a complete
PC emulation environment which has all and only the software packages
available on the target device, but currently it offers only build
environment and partial test environment.
> None of the Linux application installation toolkits (on any platform) is
> particularly good at helping you figure that stuff out. So when a
> package gets built, critical details like these get dropped on the floor.
>
> The answer might be "more testing," but bugzilla isn't a warm and
> friendly way to invite new users to submit issues. If my bugzilla
> password ever arrives in email, I'll be long gone onto another project
> and will have forgotten the bug I wanted to report.
- Eero
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