Software Management

[Jonathan Hutchins]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Densmore" <DensmoreB at ctbsonline.com>

> You should all really take a look at Mandrake's software manager! It
> works very well.  Not quite finished though.

I'll say.  Even though it effectively "works" as of the 8.1 release, it
still has major problems.  Updating the databse takes WAY to long, even when
doing local updates or updating over a hot broadband link.  It eats LOTS of
CPU while updating.

It also fails in much the same way that RPMFIND fails, it will eventually
become confused about the dependencies of updates, and will start listing
all the software you just installed off the update CD as new, uninstalled,
available, and/or required updates.

Part of this is the fact that Mandrake relies on voluntary mirrors like
RPMFIND to maintain the list of updatable files.  If one of the sites
doesn't follow the prescribed protocol for listing the new files, it breaks
the database.

They've also fallen down badly on updates in general.  Ximian, Gnome, KDE,
Mozilla, and Netscape all have relesed updates with major functionality
improvements since 8.1 was released, but none of the updates is available
through Mandrake or through the Software Manager.

Still not ready for "prime time" in my book.  Your only real option is to
use raw command line RPM, do your own web searches for update packages, and
track your own dependencies.