Thread: "Install here" : why Linux doesn't do it?
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egoshin is offline egoshin
2010-10-12 , 18:54
Posts: 992 | Thanked: 995 times | Joined on Dec 2009 @ California
#88
Originally Posted by TiagoTiago View Post
Linux gives the user power to make a mess in so many way....why the need for additional steps just to change the install folder name or location?
Because there is no a centralized authority who decides where the package files should reside. And if you use package A and it wants to use some piece of package B you should have a well defined path to parts of package B. So, package B places become nailed.

Why a centralized registry is worse than a bunch of files in a bunch of folders?
It is not worse - it is more restrictive and less reliable. Besides that the package manager creators didn't try to solve all problems in one step.

If the package manager keeps track of where things are installed, any program that would need to know if a given program is installed and where would just check the place where the package manager stores that information.
What is an "information"? There are a lot of problems here. One, as an example - you want to run application 'tar' but there are at least two versions of that. Right now you just use 'tar' and kernel exec can find an installed version in 'PATH' but in case of centralized DB of packages your software should have business with checking all that versions.

Of course, a centralized DB of packages may be more sophisticated and includes this kind of search but this example is just an entry to hell. There are, for additional example, a common DBs which can be handled a LOT of software like common configuration files in multiple packages (yes, 'gconf' gets some handling of it but... however...)

Finally, you can return back to files tree as a location place... Today it is a problem with a limited space in N900 but it is a problem only for N900.


dumping all executables on one folder, all configuration files on another folder etc makes quite a mess
Sure. But it is a requirement if configuration files are common between multiple packages - there is no another reliable way to do it. Any kind of 'registery' or link-DB which could point a package to a right configuration file is actually a way to hell - any link system MUST be checked and the consistency problem is huge. BTW, it is a most annoying problem with Windows.