Next to hardware compatibility, the key to winning over new users has to be the way software is installed. With this in mind, I figured it might be worthwhile to look into some new package management thoughts and ideas…

Traditional Linux package management systems such as RPM, Debian’s dpkg, and Slackware’s pkgtool present several problems for users. Users who want optimized packages often have problems finding them, different package repositories have conflicting naming conventions, and binary packages are often not available for packages in a timely fashion. However, for users willing to stray from the beaten path, there are alternatives. Two projects have taken up the challenge of making a package management system that overcomes these shortcomings.

Linux is available for a number of architectures, which is one of its advantages. However, most packages are generally compiled only for i386, or i686 — leaving users of alternative architectures with a dilemma. Users wanting packages optimized for other architectures often have to wait longer for pre-compiled packages, or resort to compiling the packages from source on their own, which defeats the purpose of using a package manager. [Read the rest]

[tags]linux,package management,rpm,debian’s dpkg,slackware[/tags]