[Off-topic] Re: Best windows installer?

[Bengt Kleberg]

Romain Lenglet <rlenglet@REDACTED>On 2006-07-07 05:50, 
Romain Lenglet wrote:
> Bengt Kleberg wrote:

...deleted
>> on unix i am quite comfortable with a source/compile
>> installation. whereas on a mac i am only use the normal
>> pre-compiled drag-and-drop installation. otherwise i forgoe
>> the software.
> 
> And how do you do upgrades? And uninstallations?

on unix i get the new-version.
[compile]/install it as <application>-<new-version>
move the link <application> from <application>-<old-version> to 
<application>-<new-version>.
uninstallation is
rm -rf <application>-<old-version>

on mac i get the new-version.
drag-and-drop it <somewhere>
uninstallation is drag to trash.


>> those that do not have the password for root are
>> surely not able to use their OS/distribution's package
>> manager, are they? so, does most unix user have root, or not?
> 
> "Users" above also includes administrators.
> If you don't have root access, or if your administrator has not 
> given you enough sudo(1) rights, then your administrator should 
> be willing to help you install the software that you need to do 
> your work. If he is not willing to help, and then you have no
> way to install software correctly (i.e., using the OS's 
> packaging system if there is one, and respecting standards such 
> as the LSB and the FHS), then that system administrator should 
> be fired.

this is the first time you mention ''software that you need to do your 
work''. that makes a change. in that case there is never any problem.

i was not considering only such software.


...deleted

> Stated otherwise, if you can't use the packaging system of your 
> OS to install and upgrade software (even if this would require 
> that you ask your administrator to do so), it is not a technical 
> problem, but it is a human and managerial one. Don't expect a 
> technical solution to solve this problem.

i was kind of hoping that it would be possible to install software that 
i like but is not needed to do my work. eg: i can do my work with one of 
ed, vi, textedit and emacs, but i prefer to use wily.


> And when administrators have to manage several tens or hundreds 
> of computers, what do you believe they prefer: (1) download 
> sources and compile, and install by hand all software, on every 
> computer, and for every installation or upgrade of every 
> software, or (2) use automatic tools based on existing packaging 
> systems (e.g., cfengine, apt, fai, etc. for GNU/Linux distros)?

when i was a sysadm i used exported/mounted filesystems, instead of 
installing on each individual machine. there where no GNU/Linux distros.
heterogenous systems meant build-your-own-solution when i was doing 
this. now i would need to check, before i know.

has cfengine now evolved their own packaging? interesting. i only used 
version 1, to keep files in /etc up to date.


bengt
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