Re: Anyone on this list?

[Jan Ekholm <chakie@infa.abo.fi>]

On Mon, 28 Oct 2002, Steve Baker wrote:

>Remember that most Linux users *PREFER* installing from the source code,
>so don't feel you have to make a binary installer just because the users
>would prefer it.  That's true under Windoze - but not under Linux (in 
>general).

Well, all users I know want binaries. I want to do something like:

	% apt-get install foogame

and then expect to see foogame being upgraded automatically as new
versions get released, libraries get new versions etc. If it's somethign
really good I can try (once) the autoconf-dance as mentioned below. It
rarely works for games though.

>Users are pretty good at:
>
>    tar xzf whatever.tgz
>    cd whatever
>    ./configure ; make install
>
>...it's really not hard.

No, it's not hard, but you have to manually track new versions of the
game, recompile when you get some new major version of some library. It's
also harder to uninstall, unless you put it all in
/usr/local/whatever-x.y/ or /opt/whatever-x.y/ and do symlinks.

<snip>

>Another thing is that because Linux is all about openness and
>standards with a heavy emphasis on portability, it's hardly any
>more difficult to write a multiplatform game than it is to write
>a Linux-only game.  Hence, almost all Linux games that are any good
>get ported to Windoze.

Personally I'm still waiting for that "standardization" to affect the
lives of real users. There is nothing standard in Linux. :) The LSB (or
whatever it's called nowadays) tries to fix the situation, but it always
seems to be a few years after current development. We have openness, but
that openness isn't standardized at all.

Or did you mean "use ASCII config files in /etc" and "shove the stuff in
/usr" as being examples of standards?

-- 
     "I name you... Esmeralda Margaret Note Spelling of Lancre!"
                                      -- Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum