Re: RH8 - where is the package management?

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

mike808 inquired:
> Is there some 'expert' option or am I just missing something obvious?

Jeff Licquia replied:
> Apt and Red Carpet are out there.  RH isn't interested in easy software
> installation without paying for it; that's why third parties have to add
> the capability.

That would be the obvious part I'm missing.
Dis-include features to benefit shareholders. Fair enough. They're a company.
But signing up for RHN still doesn't get me a better package management tool.
That's too bad they're not interested in the "power GUI user" space.
Particularly with better and better mass-market multimedia (digital camera 
integration, photo editing, video capture/edit) apps coming out, and where
Windows has an overwhelming ease-of-use advantage. Forcing those people
to a CLI or to "know" about Red Carpet (which Red Hat doesn't mention as an 
alternative to their own RHN service - I wonder why?).

Score for SuSE, Mdk, and the Debian-based distros that let the user decide 
when they're ready for more advanced (or just different) packages.

I was looking specifically for GUI RPM managers for RH users out-the-box.
From your answer, I take it that there is none, and that if you want
a GUI RPM manager, you have to find one and install it (not using the GUI,
since you can't install arbitrary RPMs that way).

Unless the GUI file managers "know" to install RPMs when clicked on.
I know SuSE does this in Konqueror - it displays the info, dependencies, and
provides, and has a button to install it on the spot. Mandrake has rpmdrake.

At the least, they could have listed kpackage, Red Carpet, gnorpm, apt4rpm
and Synaptic as one of the "Additional Packages" under KDE, GNOME, or System 
Utilities sections. It wouldn't be obvious, but at least it gets those
who want to get there a reasonable GUI to work with.

Personally, I'm comfortable with apt4rpm or straight CLI rpm management, 
but my question was posed from a new Windows refugee perspective - for
example, trying to install a newer OpenOffice or Mozilla than is available 
from RHN.

Mike808/

---------------------------------------------
http://www.valuenet.net



-
To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@luci.org with
"unsubscribe luci-discuss" in the body.