Re: Windows and DLLs

[Tim Moore <tmoore tembel org>]

On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, Jochem Huhmann wrote:

> On Wed, 30 Sep 1998 17:24:08 PDT David Jeske wrote:
> 
> > Some apps do a better job.. for example "wmprefs.app". It is wrappered
> > in the same style that Nextstep apps were wrappered in ".app
> > directories". As long as you launch it with a full path to the
> > executable, it can find it's datafiles, and window maker knows how to
> > throw it into the Doc, etc , etc...
> 
> The problem comes up when users start to install their apps in their
> home directories (say, in /home/jeske/apps/foo.app). That's what this
> kind of scheme is intended for, I guess. But what if another user on the
> same machine or network also needs this application? Either he has to
> dig around in other user's home directories to find an specific app (I
> wouldn't like that) or - he just installs another copy of this app in
> his own home directory... And what about system-wide pre-configuration
> of applications? How to make sure that all users are using the same
> version of an app? How to update libs or datafiles if they are spread
> all over the site? This wrapping thing makes sure that the app knows
> everything it needs, but the *system* knows nothing. The unix way of
> installing applications is The Right Thing, IMHO. And rpm does the best
> job in this regard I have ever seen - no need to fix things that are
> definitely not broken. It may seem complicated, but it is as simple as 
> possible (but not simpler).

There's nothing in the app-wrapper system that precludes (or even 
discourages) sysadmins from installing apps and libraries in system-global
locations. The difference is that it no longer *relies* on them to do so.

Tim