Sid Boyce wrote:
Here's hoping. It's been a long time since you could download and install a rpm or deb and have it run on any distro, it shouldn't be as it is now ....
depends...
most big apps like Openoffice are nearly static compiled (all the relevant libraries are included), so they can run from anywhere.
many rpm (I don't know for deb) are also.
time ago, the computer power was small (486 time) and dynamic apps could save many memory and processor cycles.
now most power is unused on modern computers, memory is enormous (I remember programms for 50 "bytes" (Ti calculator) and saving power is not mandatory, at least in the beginning, when one try an app to see if it fits.
I look with interest to "klick" apps (klick and run package)
the main problem with LSB and optimized application is that they are spread in all the parts of the disk. Do you know in how many place you can find Yast component (try updatedb &, then locate YaST)
for example, I got flash player for mozilla. I could copy it to /opt/semonkey and /opt/Firefox, but still don't know where to copy it for Konqueror...
jdd I know there are isolated instances, but for many, they need libraries
jdd sur free wrote: that may not be present at the required level on your distro, sometimes the libraries are the same level but compiled without the options needed by the foreign program. That's the reason OOo has some distro-specific parts. Download some utilities and you are scuppered using them because the scripts are in different places than for your distro. I can see exactly what the Dell CEO is saying and if the people putting the various distros together insist on doing their own crazy stuff, they'll find it harder to do business. If anyone believes the Linux distros have learned any lessons from Unix fragmentation, they lie to themselves. The Unix crazies have sons, daughters and grandchildren firmly entrenched in the Linux camp, hands ready on the self-destruct button. They may pay lip service to the LSB specifications, but they don't type with their lips. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce ... Hamradio License G3VBV, licensed Private Pilot Retired IBM/Amdahl Mainframes and Sun/Fujitsu Servers Tech Support Specialist Microsoft Windows Free Zone - Linux used for all Computing Tasks