[gentoo-desktop] Re: CD player recommendations ??

[Duncan]

"Harry Holt" <harryholt@×××××.com> posted
7c8072a00701101121p3bff915bmffdaaf5b8665cff@××××××××××.com, excerpted
below, on  Wed, 10 Jan 2007 14:21:20 -0500:

> 2)  Each environment has a number of dependencies.  If you only have one
> environment installed, installing an application for the other requires
> that you also install all those libraries and dependencies.  Maybe not a
> major issue for some, but a consideration none-the-less.

... AND since we are talking about a Gentoo desktop here, all those extra
dependencies not only have to be compiled, but have to be RE-compiled for
updates.

On a normal binary distribution, installing apps one seldom uses, or a
whole list of dependencies for just one app, isn't a big deal.  It's
substantially MORE of a big deal on Gentoo, because that's a lot of
compiling from source, not just once, but to maintain thru updates, for
just one or two apps!

I run KDE as my desktop here, and run several GTK+ apps, but won't run any
GNOME apps, because it's simply not worth it in terms of the time and
maintenance involved to keep up with the dependencies, all for just one or
two apps.  I don't care about the differences in interface so much (except
that I consider many GNOME policies, such as no place to type in a path
unless you hit a "magic" keyboard shortcut that isn't mentioned anywhere
on the file dialog, extremely brain-dead, but I guess some folks actually
/like/ it that way <shrug>), even the different select/paste behavior
or different button order, but to me, it's simply not worth keeping up with
a big long list of extra dependencies for just an app or two, period.

Plus of course, the more stuff one has installed, the bigger the chance of
an unpatched and unknown except to the crackers exploit in it somewhere. 
If it's something you need, install it, but if not, if you can get along
with something else that doesn't bring in all those additional not
otherwise used dependencies, it's better not to have them on the system at
all, and thus not have to worry about their security at all.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

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