> From what I understand of Gentoo, it basically downloads the equivalent > of an SRPM and builds it then installs the binary. >
>From Levi's and others comments, everyone seems to have missed the real differences in the methods. (S)RPMs carry meta data with each RPM. With Gentoo, the meta data - how to compile/make the file and it's dependencies are external to the source, in a portage database/storage area -/usr/portage/. With an (S)RPM, to fix a build problem, the script must be changed, the RPM re-built, then tested. With Gentoo, the script is changed, then tested - it's not necessary to rebuild before test as the build is the test because the script is external to the source, an ebuild script in the portage data directory. With both RPM and Portage any source code change requires re-packaging the source code into a tar-gz/bz2, so no advantage there. Another real difference that some find an advantage is the ability to update the portage database without doing any actual install. Indeed, a build can occur without ever affecting the running system because all builds occur in a sandbox environment. Gentoo is not for everybody. As it exists today, it certainly is not for anyone new to Linux. And it's a source distribution with the ability to select the kernel (more exactly, build the kernel) needed for the work to be done. > It shouldn't be that difficult in theory to hack urpmi to support that > (providing that a source-equivalent for hdlists and so forth is > created). If Mandrake integrates both automatic compilation of desired > packages with the ability to download binaries, that would be a killer > feature, imho. > The problem is not urpmi, nor is it the ability to auto-compile packages. Doing such would not solve the inherent problems with RPM. Mandrake is a great distribution, but it weighed down by RPM. And that is the real issue and problem - meta data contained with the individual application/program when numerous dependencies on other apps/libs and a one-way install method. Linux gets more complicated with each release, regardless of distribution. Real value in Linux comes from putting the distribution together and getting it installed on the end user systems. All the gui frontends and hand holding will do no good in the end if the underlying foundation is bad. There are times when it is necessary to run multiple versions of libc or glibc, etc. There will be more of these in the future when running 32-bit and 64-bit on the same platform. The package management system is going to have to deal with this in a fairly robust fashion and from what I've seen, I'm not convinced RPM can do that or that I want to put up with the workarounds it will require. For some, Gentoo make a lot of sense - each system becomes a build system. And that system gets fully tested over a few days by running the source builds. Each system that has Gentoo installed is tailored to the job it has to perform. But Gentoo is a young distribution - the install is manual, not gui'fied, automatic setup the world like most of the RPM based systems. After spending several years with Red Hat, SuSE, and Mandrake along with toying with Rock-Linux and dRock, Gentoo makes a lot of sense to me - yes I still run Mandrake as well. Can Gentoo have a gui'fied automatic install of binaries? Sure. It's just another set of work to do. Should it? It's not my call. But that's not the real issue. Should Mandrake drop RPM? Now that's the real issue. Bob -
