Scott Bronson wrote:
>
> WHAT??!?!?! You'd rather have tarball than RPM? Sure, go ahead.
> Everything is still available in tar format. You just have to go
> download it all separately. Then, once you install it, it can never be
> removed. And you won't know until you run and crash if you have the
> appropriate other tarballs installed.
>
What do mean that I can't remove a package that was distributed
as a tarball?. All I have to do is go in and delete the files.
Look at Netscape. All I have to do is delete /opt/netscape;
and the same is true for all other packages.
If I use an rpm, I have to wonder about the security issues
of installing a pre-compiled binary as root. It adds another
"layer of abstraction" between me and the application. The rpm
also forces me to install to a pre-determined directory.
I left windows because I wanted more control over these
things, this whole rpm thing is forcing everything back
to a windows style of installation. The whole rpm-database
thing is just a "registry waiting to happen".
On quite a few occaisions, I deleted some programs, manually,
without going thru the rpm -remove procedure, and the rpm
wouldn't install because the database said it was already
installed. Sure, I can tell it to force it, or upgrade it,
but why even deal with these things.
In summary, I prefer to compile a package, copy it to a location
of my choosing, and delete it anyway I want.
Of course, for installing new systems, the rpm format is nice.
At least Suse provides MD5sums for all it's rpm's, Redhat
does not. Everytime you install a binary rpm as root, you
open "exposing your system to possible trouble".
I'm sure the NSA loves the binary rpm format.
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