Re: What Is Linux?

John Thompson <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
[...]
If a program was written explicitly expecting to find, say, a gtk2.6
widget set, and you only have gtk2.0 installed, it will complain if/when
it tries to find a missing widget. The same goes for KDE and qt widgets.

Sometimes the author will allow you to configure using an earlier
version, e.g. "./configure --with-gtk2.0" or something, but you can't
count on all source code to do this.

You can build the newer gtk (or qt, or whatever) on your old system, but
that's where you start hitting similar issues with other packages like
glib or gdk and such. So then you go to build the newer versions of
those packages, run into the same problem again with something else,
continuing recursively until you throw in the towel.

OK, I'm hearing you now. (The perspective of a new day, I guess.)

There would be no "throwing in the towel" If all the dependencies
were automated, as they are for RPM packages. The upgrade for
xyz application might "balloon" into a 50 MB dependency list, but
it would still be automated and theoretically should go without a
hitch.

I suspect the real issue is that projects like gnome and other important
library / application providers don't take the time to create the RPM
package. I'm not blaming them since package creation (done properly) is
probably a royal pain in the ass, but I conjecture that's where my
paradigm breaks down.
--
% Randy Yates % "So now it's getting late,
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % and those who hesitate
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http://www.digitalsignallabs.com
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: What Is Linux?
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  • Re: What Is Linux?
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