On Sun, 13 Oct 2002, sert tres wrote:
> THE CATCH -
> One needs to agree to RH concept of the distro. As far
> as I understand it, RH expects that all products be installed by
> their tools and once you bypass them, you are on your own.
It stinks!
Several comments:
1. The concept of Free Software may need to be augmented to cover not only
the theoretical possibility of modifying the software, but also the
practical aspects of doing so:
- Access to test scripts and test cases, to ensure that your homebrew
modifications didn't break things you didn't want to break.
- Ability to use whatever means you want to modify an installation,
without one method locking you out of the use of other methods.
I don't mean that the extra provisions need to be mandatory. What I'd
like to see is that people take also those considrations when they
review Free Software packages and distributions.
2. Any tools for managing packages, configuration files, etc. - should
provide for interoperability. This includes as much interoperability
as possible with hand-edits.
3. Locking a Free Software installation into one procedure for modifying
it (even if it is theoretically possible to use other procedures) is a
way to achieve lock-in. Eventually, software will be so complicated
that only people, who spent years studying it, will be able to modify
it and/or its installation on their own. Then Micro$oft's tactics for
achieving lock-in won't be needed. The same effect will be achieved by
obfuscation.
4. Does anyone know if there were sound technical reasons for RedHat to
modify their RPM formats over the years, rather than stick to the
original RPM format and achieve upward&downward compatibility?
The change in formats causes problems when one wants to upgrade his
installation, or even when one wants to install a software package,
which depends upon newer versions of other packages.
--- Omer
Simplify, simplify, simplify!
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