Linux Vs. FreeBSD 7128

George Ellison

I apologize because in fact you're right. I forgot about this example when I posted. However, it really begs the question, why are packages like this so few and far between? Why not package everything in this way, except maybe with a GUI installer that basically just extracts the tarball for the extreme novice? I know tar.gz is a common format, but in this case I mean tar.gz without dependency hell. I buttume dependency hell doesn't exist when trying to install Firefox because they don't feel the need to be minimalist in the way they package it and just include all dependencies except very basic ones that virtually all users already have.

This is my idea of a good method of program installation, buttuming I understand it correctly. It works on any distro, has no dependency hell, does not rely on any form of a centralized repository, does not take forever, and installation can be done either by a simple command or a few simple GUI actions in Nautilus or Konqueror. It wastes a little disc space and RAM by bringing things that may already be there, but who cares? Simple economics dictates that the resource that is most plentiful should be most exploited, and in this case, RAM and hard drive space are much more plentiful than the user's time and willingness to put forth effort to conserve RAM and hard drive space.