[Mono-list] binary distribution methods

Erik Poupaert erik.poupaert@chello.be
Sat, 19 Oct 2002 14:05:57 +0200


Sys Admin Magazine

http://www.samag.com/documents/s=7666/sam0211a/0211a.htm

About self-contained, zero-dependency applications and their deployment:

"""
To meet OpenPKG guidelines and standards, a package must be built from
pristine vendor sources in a non-root temporary environment. It must work in
an arbitrary file system location, follow a strict file system layout, and
must be self-contained within its OpenPKG instance. Furthermore, the package
must be independent from external UNIX facilities, install with a reasonable
configuration, and use log file rotations and other such administrative
wonders.
"""

A Mono-developed application would have a very hard time to qualify.

About the inherent stupidity of deploying open source in a binary format:

"""
OpenPKG also officially discourages the use of binary packages, and only
provides them for bootstrapping (development tools not available) and
emergency (tight time constraints) purposes. In our experience, installing
binary packages built from source packages on the target machine outperforms
other binary methods in respect to security and robustness.
"""

So, it's definitely not a phenomenon related to Gentoo only.

It is obvious that open-source should strive to deploy source packages only,
and then develop compelling features that require it. By definition,
proprietary vendors won't be able to duplicate the compelling feature and
from there a strong preference for open-source will develop in the user
community.