Re: installation program

[Daniel Burrows <Daniel_Burrows brown edu>]

On Wed, Apr 21, 1999 at 12:01:23PM -0400, Andrew W. Freeman was heard to say:
> > On Wed, Apr 21, 1999 at 10:04:30AM -0400, Andrew W. Freeman was heard to
> >
> >   If I may be forgiven for contributing my two cents:
> >
> >   On Linux systems, at least, Gnome does not need an installation tool--in
> > fact, it would be inappropriate for Gnome to create one.  I already have
> an
> > installation tool on my system which allows me to install, upgrade, and
> > uninstall Gnome, it's called apt.  (For RedHat users: s/apt/rpmfind ;-) )
> > For Gnome to *require* its own private installation method would be
> unfriendly
> > to say the least; it should use native package managers whenever possible.
> 
> Actually, I was referring to the discussion that was held a week or so back.
> This would be a tool that would have the ability to download the latest
> versions of files from the CVS tree, ftp site, web site, or locally.
> Whatever.  Its primary purpose would be to simplify the installation process
> for new users.  Any of the articles that I have seen that are discussing
> GNOME complain about how difficult it is to install.

  Hmm.  That sounds awfully like apt/rpmfind to me..except for CVS and I don't
think new users should be doing CVS builds anyway. (although that would be
a Cool Feature[tm] to add to apt! :-) deb cvs://anonymous@anoncvs.gnome.org... )

  The difficult-to-installness of Gnome has (IMO) more to do with packages that
aren't well-formed and with the fact that it hasn't been included in the central
package locations of most distributions yet.  Given that there's already an
official repository of Debian packages for it, and that RH6.0 is coming out any
moment with the latest version burned onto the CD, I think this will be less of
a problem in the future. [ I don't know about the other distros/OSes ]

> Someone posted a message today about configuring the X startup script.
> Others have asked about mounting drives.  I am too new to this list (and to
> GNOME) to rattle off other issues that are common.  What I was thinking
> would suffice (for now) would be an installation/upgrade script.  It would
> handle dependancy problems automagically, configure the basic startup files,
> etc..  It could even offer to mount drives for the user.  I just think GNOME
> has to work on its PR.  Making it easy to install would be a significant
> step in the right direction.

  The problem is that dependency problems, basic startup files, and so on are
distribution-specific.  (mounting drives is a separate topic..Linux (UNIX?) in
general needs a sane way to deal with removable media)

  Gnome doesn't need to take over the job of the distributions, they're doing a
fine job of setting things up themselves.  I think that being able to install
and configure Gnome via the same mechanisms as any other program in the system
is probably a more significant boost to ease of installation than a separate
installation script.

  Daniel

-- 
  If you wish to live wisely, ignore sayings--including this one.