From: bet@sbi.com (Bennett Todd @ Salomon Brothers Inc., NY ) Subject: Re: A discipline for packages Date: 5 Jan 1993 05:21:57 GMT
Well, I've seen the System V packaging tools, as used in Solaris 2.x
(pkgadd, pkgrm, pkginfo, ...). I'd rather use the current SLS system; it's a
much cleaner, simpler approach, though maybe not as powerful. My big
complaints with the System V packaging tools are that they try to solve to
many different (and often only loosely related) problems, and that they make
no real effort to exploit existing Unix standards and utilities.
For stuff I add to my own machine, I probably won't bother making new SLS
packages; I'll probably just use /usr/local/src/pkgname.tar.Z to hold the
sources, and /usr/local/{bin,lib,man,...} to contain the installed files.
Then I'll just back up my home directory and /usr/local before a major
upgrade. Sure, it isn't as potent and powerful as a real package management
system, but then a home box doesn't need to be as complex as a commercial
system. A lot of the power of the serious package management tools really
only justifies the effort when you've got a _huge_ computer to maintain, or
when you have many many machines to administer.
-Bennett
bet@sbi.com