1 |
The focus isnt on the number of packages per se, but on the size of the |
2 |
install media that a modern distro requires. Gentoo (as long as it has |
3 |
the "coverage") has a natural advantage here in that you only install |
4 |
what you want to install from the repositories, or from a single, |
5 |
relatively small CD as far as the basics go. I believe debian can do |
6 |
the same, but not as easy as gentoo, but again the discussion was on the |
7 |
number of CD's that had to be obtained (either by purchase or download) |
8 |
for a usable install. |
9 |
|
10 |
BillK |
11 |
|
12 |
|
13 |
On Mon, 2005-08-29 at 23:47 -0400, Michael Crute wrote: |
14 |
> On 8/29/05, Ciaran McCreesh <ciaranm@g.o> wrote: |
15 |
> |
16 |
> Note that such a number wouldn't be useful for comparing with, |
17 |
> say, |
18 |
> other distributions or ports, because a) we can SLOT things, |
19 |
> so we |
20 |
> don't need separate foo-1, foo-2 and foo-3 packages, and b) we |
21 |
> don't |
22 |
> need to do a zillion foo, foo-python, foo-perl etc packages |
23 |
> because of |
24 |
> USE flags. |
25 |
> |
26 |
> Some wise person once said that "Its not the size of the tool its how |
27 |
> well it works." I think that perhaps all this fuss over how many |
28 |
> packages are in the repository is kind of pointless. The issue is |
29 |
> really does it work for your use. Sure Fedora may have 6 billion |
30 |
> packages but if it lacks the ONE packages that you need to do that job |
31 |
> and its not easy to create a package for it then by golly Fedora isn't |
32 |
> very useful. From personal experience I find it much easier to create |
33 |
> ebuilds for non standard packages than it is to create RPMs plus the |
34 |
> Portage tree has most of the packages I need by default (and as an |
35 |
> added bonus I don't have to hunt down a thousand dependencies to |
36 |
> install a single package). |
37 |
> |
38 |
> So instead of comparing raw numbers think about this... Does it work |
39 |
> for you? In non-standard situations is it easy to get it to do what |
40 |
> you want it to do? If the answer to both is yes I think that says far |
41 |
> more about the distro than the size of its repository. Just my $0.02 |
42 |
> |
43 |
> -Mike |
44 |
> |
45 |
> -- |
46 |
> ________________________________ |
47 |
> Michael E. Crute |
48 |
> Software Developer |
49 |
> SoftGroup Development Corporation |
50 |
> |
51 |
> Linux, because reboots are for installing hardware. |
52 |
> "In a world without walls and fences, who needs windows and gates?" |
53 |
-- |
54 |
gentoo-user@g.o mailing list |