On Tue, Jun 10, 2003 at 02:03:37PM -0500, Nick LeRoy wrote:
Let's say that I'm installing application "foo" (I just love that name), and it needs lib "bar" which is currently not installed.
I Boldly Assert(tm) that the "foo" installer should:
1. Consult RPM or whatever package manager is installed, and tell it "I'm looking for libbar.so version 1.2.3 . Please install it if you can".
1a. RPM then checks its database of things that came with the distro, and says, "yep I have it, and I just installed it for you" (during which time it'll have prompted the user to insert CD 3, etc.). 1b. RPM checks it's database and says "I don't know about libbar.so".
2. The application installer then installs libbar.so on it's own in /opt/bar...
Question: Does RPM store the CD directory some place? I don't know.
I don't know how SuSE does it, but they come close to this. I just keep the DVD in the drive and whenever I need something I start YaST, find it, check it, it checks dependencies, click "finish" and off it goes. I've not found it that difficult. If one is using esoteric software that has a very niche market, then there might be some esoteric libs that you have to seek out.