On Wed, 6 Feb 2002 07:21:42 +0800, Sacha Chua wrote:
>On 06 Feb, Andy Sy ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) said: > >Speaking as a Debian sorta-newbie.. =) > >> 1. dpkg looks mighty similar to rpm in terms >> of functionality, is one clearly superior to >> another or is it more of just reinventing the >> wheel? > >While RPMs are supposed to be easier to roll (just ask William), the >strict Debian policy helps improve package quality. Most packages have >well-defined relationships to other packages (in so many different >ways!), and I find that the configuration scripts often included by Debian >packagers are very helpful. RPM and DEB are almost the same today (almost, unlike a few years back wherein RPM-based distros are not so good to maintain) save that DEB has the additional relationships "recommends" and "suggests". Quite a good thing --> installing a package also lets the user know of other packages which, if used with the installed package, would make it work even better. Another is the concept of virtual and dummy packages which ease upgrading of a distribution and reduces the effort(?) of selecting individual packages prior to installation. AFAIK, DEB came even before RPM was conceived (according to the old ones..) >Another cool thing about Debian is that there are so many packages to >choose from in the sid branch. Granted, RPM seems to be a more popular >standard, but the RPMs on RPMFind tend to be: >(a) the same RPMs on your CD (probably newer versions, though) >(b) from another distro with possibly different ways of working >(c) sourceforge versions, but there aren't that many > >Different distros even declare different dependencies, so sometimes it's >hard to use packages from another distro. perl-base? No perl-base on >Redhat, I think. It's a Mandrake thing. The Debian Project has clear rules that a software packaged for its distribution should have only one official maintainer to avoid redundant effort. Fortunately, most free software have official maintainers. If there ain't one, you can always apply... --paolo __________________________________ www.edsamail.com _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
