

Why Package Managers Are Not My Ideal Software Distribution Mechanism - sciurus
http://blog.mecheye.net/2014/11/why-package-managers-are-not-my-ideal-software-distribution-mechanism/

======
Doji
It should be noted that the nix package manager
([http://nixos.org/nix/](http://nixos.org/nix/)) already has:

    
    
       * Atomic upgrades
       * Rollbacks
       * Reproducible builds
    

As well as a bunch of other solutions to common annoyances all as a result of
an elegant core design. It's not yet user friendly though (the command line
interface is reminiscent of early git), but I'm hopeful that it can be, given
a little time and effort.

~~~
dz0ny
Now make that API agnostic so I can use package from any distribution
(deb,rpm,pkg,static build) and I am in!

FYI we also know guix...

My main problem is that you repackage every lib and build it on your own,
sometimes some patching is necessary to make it nix aware.

~~~
dz0ny
And here we go
[http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1434](http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1434)

------
ggchappell
This article feels a little confused.

> But today, iOS and Android have redefined the app installation experience,
> and packages seem like a step backwards.

I'm no expert on iOS & Android internals. But surely there are packages and a
package manager hiding behind the app installation process.

What is different is the UX. The package manager has been given a very
different interface.

An important part of this involves cultural assumptions about what users can
be expected to know. That a user might be asked what to do with an sshd config
file is not a problem with the concept of a package manager, but with the
(increasingly incorrect) assumptions made in the Linux world about the
technical expertise[1] of the user.

In any case, yes, I'm all for improving the interfaces we use to install &
manage software.

[1] Expertise _and interest_. I'm perfectly capable of making decisions about
sshd config files. However, _I don 't want to._

