Frankly, I disagree with the subject. LSB allows the distribution to use a different (i.e. dpkg) packaging format than rpm. More importantly, rpm is the packaging format used by every other significant Linux distribution. While I agree that a million flies may be wrong, as far as I have understood, there are no significant functional differences between dpkg and rpm. Package dependencies may be declared explicitly in rpm as well, as well as functional dependencies (Requires: MTA). Debconf is not a package format issue, but a policy issue. While dpkg uses fairly robust text file format, rpm uses Berkeley DB's, which are very established as well, and somewhat faster and more compact than dpkg text files. Etc etc. Both packaging formats have their pros as well as cons. What ensures the high quality of Debian, is its policy. Still, a packaging format should not be seen as a religious issue.
What I would like to see, in the light of LSB, would be that 1) A transparent way to install LSB-compliant rpms in Debian is implemented. Preferably one should be able to install rpms with 'dpkg' command line tool, although an automatic format transform with 'alien' could be performed behind the scenes. 2) Assuming that I am not misinformed about the functional compatibility of dpkg and rpm, a LONG TERM goal for transforming Debian to rpm base is issued. This would include adding rpm support for all Debian package management tools, and transition tools for the database contents, etc. I am sorry if I brought up a inflammable issue, but I'd really like to see some (civil, positive) discussion around the subject. Standards (usually) are a good thing, and especially a common packaging format for all Linux distributions would help acceptance and adoption of Linux, and more importantly, Debian. Best regards, -- Matti Airas basement, SUPIR, SURVIAC, SGDN, CISE, GCHQ, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Leitrim, National Information +358 50 34 64 256 Infrastructure, OTAT, InfoSec, SVR, Canine, http://www.iki.fi/mairas/ Fox, KLM, Magdeyev, JITEM, BRGE, CISSP, Bugs
