[opensuse-project] yast improvments proposal
Hi all, recently i read that the hardest wall to linux adoption is software installation so i got to thinking how this could be improved. now on OpenSuSE new users will download an rpm (or deb) and think like on windows they have to double click on it, and ofcourse that dosn't work, so he goes looking for an app to do so and finds "install software" under computer thinks fair enough but once he opens he wonders "what the hell is this!!??" "i just want to install the file i downloaded!!!" so i propose adding an "install from file" module that ties into the current method, say just bellow search, have install from file, and when the rpm is loaded it checks its deps and searches the repos for them and adds them to be installed, then it installs the deps, then the rpm, killing 2 birds with 1 stone, deps problem and rpm usage. Now i said module as it should be able to run stand alone like 1-click-install,m so when you double click on the rpm, it will bring up an installation dialogue displaying deps installed and ones that are missing, this will make software installation a hell of alot easier Now here is the delicate part and why this mail is here. we need to have support for debs off the bat, but still be dominantly rpm as lets face it a lot of apps only provide debs and we need some way to support them as forcing a new user to compile is not nice at all and hampers the usability of Linux hence holding the person back from fully adopting Linux. So lets be the fore-bearers in destroying this brick wall :) -- Michael Fox Developer and user of Blender3d www.blender.org mfoxdogg@gmail.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org
Hi Michael, Il giorno gio, 12/03/2009 alle 10.25 +1100, Michael Fox ha scritto:
so i propose adding an "install from file" module that ties into the current method, say just bellow search, have install from file, and when the rpm is loaded it checks its deps and searches the repos for them and adds them to be installed, then it installs the deps, then the rpm, killing 2 birds with 1 stone, deps problem and rpm usage.
Something like this is almost "done" in GNOME@openSUSE, if you exclude the dependency resolution. If you download a RPM and click on it, you can actually install it if all the dependencies are already installed on the system. If not, it doesn't work and complains about missing dependencies, so I agree this should be improved :-)
Now i said module as it should be able to run stand alone like 1-click-install,m so when you double click on the rpm, it will bring up an installation dialogue displaying deps installed and ones that are missing, this will make software installation a hell of alot easier
Now here is the delicate part and why this mail is here. we need to have support for debs off the bat, but still be dominantly rpm as lets face it a lot of apps only provide debs and we need some way to support them as forcing a new user to compile is not nice at all and hampers the usability of Linux hence holding the person back from fully adopting Linux.
This is interesting, but I don't know how feasible. Some time ago, if I'm not wrong during a hack week, a tool to deal with .deb was among the ideas. But I don't know what's the current status. Can someone tell something about it? Regards, A. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org
On Wednesday 11 March 2009 07:12:37 pm Alberto Passalacqua wrote:
Hi Michael,
Il giorno gio, 12/03/2009 alle 10.25 +1100, Michael Fox ha scritto:
so i propose adding an "install from file" module that ties into the current method, say just bellow search, have install from file, and when the rpm is loaded it checks its deps and searches the repos for them and adds them to be installed, then it installs the deps, then the rpm, killing 2 birds with 1 stone, deps problem and rpm usage.
Something like this is almost "done" in GNOME@openSUSE, if you exclude the dependency resolution. If you download a RPM and click on it, you can actually install it if all the dependencies are already installed on the system. If not, it doesn't work and complains about missing dependencies, so I agree this should be improved :-)
I just downgraded my kernel looking is Konqueror (as file manager) click and install working. It is old feature, but in some of the previous versions was broken. I'm happy, it does. Though this time I should think twice [1] :-( After click on rpm, it gives you screen where you can check rpm trough few tabs, and above all tabs, offers you button to install rpm with YaST. I did that, gave root password and now I have installed rpm and old kernel [1] ;-)
Now i said module as it should be able to run stand alone like 1-click-install,m so when you double click on the rpm, it will bring up an installation dialogue displaying deps installed and ones that are missing, this will make software installation a hell of alot easier
Now here is the delicate part and why this mail is here. we need to have support for debs off the bat, but still be dominantly rpm as lets face it a lot of apps only provide debs and we need some way to support them as forcing a new user to compile is not nice at all and hampers the usability of Linux hence holding the person back from fully adopting Linux.
This is interesting, but I don't know how feasible. Some time ago, if I'm not wrong during a hack week, a tool to deal with .deb was among the ideas. But I don't know what's the current status. Can someone tell something about it?
Some improvement to 'alien'? It should be able to convert deb to rpm, but I'm sure that when comes to dependencies, it will be a mess. How to convert pre and post install scripts, libraries naming, installation source directory layout, and probably few more problems. [1] Nothing is perfect. Current 2.6.27.19-3.2 "New" 2.6.27.7-9-pae I have to see who is asking for old kernel. This problem was hanging for a while, waiting for me to forget it is there. -- Regards, Rajko -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org
On Wed, 2009-03-11 at 19:12 -0500, Alberto Passalacqua wrote:
Hi Michael,
Il giorno gio, 12/03/2009 alle 10.25 +1100, Michael Fox ha scritto:
so i propose adding an "install from file" module that ties into the current method, say just bellow search, have install from file, and when the rpm is loaded it checks its deps and searches the repos for them and adds them to be installed, then it installs the deps, then the rpm, killing 2 birds with 1 stone, deps problem and rpm usage.
Now i said module as it should be able to run stand alone like 1-click-install,m so when you double click on the rpm, it will bring up an installation dialogue displaying deps installed and ones that are missing, this will make software installation a hell of alot easier
ok my bad, you can double click and it works :S(been a while since i tried as the old one never worked), but i still think an install from file option in yast2 is still needed
Now here is the delicate part and why this mail is here. we need to have support for debs off the bat, but still be dominantly rpm as lets face it a lot of apps only provide debs and we need some way to support them as forcing a new user to compile is not nice at all and hampers the usability of Linux hence holding the person back from fully adopting Linux.
I still believe this is a major issue with linux adoption, especially openSuSE adoption since we are predominatly rpm based and most other distros are using debs -- Michael Fox Developer and user of Blender3d www.blender.org mfoxdogg@gmail.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org
Le jeudi 12 mars 2009, à 10:25 +1100, Michael Fox a écrit :
Now here is the delicate part and why this mail is here. we need to have support for debs off the bat, but still be dominantly rpm as lets face it a lot of apps only provide debs and we need some way to support them as forcing a new user to compile is not nice at all and hampers the usability of Linux hence holding the person back from fully adopting Linux.
It's generally not that good of an idea to install a deb (even if it's possible, and it should already be possible with alien). The issue is that the deb will be compiled against some specific versions of libraries, and your openSUSE system might have older or more recent versions. There are also some small evil details in how things are handled in Debian vs openSUSE which will make things possibly not work out of the box. Are there that many apps only providings deb packages? (let's just make it clear that the mail is not about rpm vs deb: my reply would be the same for installing rpms on a deb-based system) Vincent -- Les gens heureux ne sont pas pressés. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org
participants (4)
-
Alberto Passalacqua -
Michael Fox -
Rajko M. -
Vincent Untz