Public bug reported:
Binary package hint: mono
This is a hybrid between a bug and an idea: It's an idea to enhance
usability, and it's a bug because it causes Ubuntu to ship software that
is very much out-of-date and carries increased complexity in the system.
Debian, some time ago, moved to a setup wherein the upstream Mono
package is split into *many* different packages—over 100. They claimed
that this was in order to reduce the size of the dependencies for
various Mono packages, which might have made sense in the days of Mono
1.0 when there simply weren't that many and there were still a very
large number of compatibility issues with software targeted at the .NET
implementation of the CLR.
However, _today_, this makes no sense and introduces unnecessary
complexity into the system. The way things are done currently, there
isn't a full set of assemblies in the GAC when Mono is installed, which
inhibits the ability to download zero-install .NET software and use it.
It would be possible in theory to patch the Mono runtime such that it
could halt an application and call upon APT to install assemblies on-
demand, but that would create even more unnecessary complexity. Some
businesses (including a few of my own clients) would like to easily
deploy software and just have a full and compliant CLR environment with
which to do so. And lastly, if the version in the distribution is not
new enough, it should be easy to pull from upstream and re-package it
for the operating system so that updating the core system CLR is
possible in a scalable manner.
Currently, those things are all inhibited by the astoundingly complex
packaging situation. As new assemblies are added to Mono to increase
runtime CLI-bytecode binary compatibility, additional packages will be
required, and a great deal of work has to be done to update the
*.install, *.manpages, the ever-growing control file, and other files
required in the source package. Instead, Ubuntu should adopt a 1:1
binary-to-source package policy, particularly with complex packages such
as Mono. This will increase the user experience as well as enable the
Ubuntu system to be more flexible for end-user needs, especially as the
world creates and consumes more managed software that can be written
once and run everywhere. It will also make it such that companies and
end-users can receive supported updates for Mono from upstream, should
they want to begin packaging for Ubuntu and not have to try to figure
out the entire packaging setup. I know that I can barely make heads or
tails of it, and so I run a parallel-mono install for development
purposes in my /opt directory. Would it that it were possible, I'd
update the packages myself so that I could have a newer CLR installed,
system-wide, without having to worry about entering my special
environment for development.
Please fix this for Koala+1 at the latest, and help to increase Ubuntu's
usability and flexibility. Thank you.
** Affects: mono (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
** Tags: mono packaging-nightmare
** Summary changed:
- Block Mono updates from Debian, and simply packaging
+ Block Mono updates from Debian, and simplify packaging
--
Block Mono updates from Debian, and simplify packaging
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/357555
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