[Mono-list] Installing Mono on Debian

[Tony G]

Paolo Molaro wrote:
> On 03/24/06 Redefined Horizons wrote:
>> I'm realtively new to Linux and Mono, so please be
>> patient if I ask something obvious. :] 
>> 
>> I'd like to get Mono installed on my Debian Linux box.
>> I'm running the stable version of Debian Sarge. Should I
>> try to use a Debian package for Mono, or can I use the
>> installer provided here?: 
> 
> The binary installer should be used only if there is no
> mono packaged for your distribution (either officially or
> in semi-official repositories).
> 
> lupus

Paolo, I must disagree.  In a recent thread of mine here ("Dependency
issues with 1.1.13") I mentioned that the current Mono was built using an
old version of SQLite.  A more recent version is installed with Python and
Gnome desktop utilities written in Gnome.  This means the pre-built
packages won't install to a system with even the most basic distro
utilities installed.  For those of us unfamiliar with doing a complete
build from source of all Mono-related packages, the only solution is to use
the installer to put all of the mono packages into a unique path - or to
uninstall anything else that happens to use Python, which is unreasonable.

This problem is bound to occur with almost every binary build of Mono since
it relies on other packages, and some of those are bound to be more or less
advanced than what each of us has in our existing systems.  Less
sophisticated oftware packages with less rigorous dependencies aren't as
subject to these issues.  Quite simply, this is DLL Hell for Linux.

I respectfully request that someone provide a clear set of documentation
that explains how to work around these issues : "How to install Mono when
installed packages are more or less up to date than current Mono
dependencies".  Existing documentation found on the net is seriously out of
date and no longer helpful.  I'm basically a Windows/.NET/C# guy with Linux
admin experience.  I'm not a Linux C developer and not yet familiar with
building packages from source or hacking software as sophisticated as Mono
to conform to a unique environment, but I'm willing to learn everything
required using Mono as a learning project.

If Mono is to gain acceptance with a wider audience of people like myself,
there needs to be current and detailed installation documentation for us to
read.  This is as much a marketing issue as technical.  As a project that
is attempting to grab the imagination of a diversity of people, you (Mono
developers and corporate supporters) don't want newcomers to get weighed
down in the mechanics of installation and distro-specific syntax, but you
do want people to get started coding in Mono/C# ASAP.  As I learn I'll be
happy to update existing docs, but for now it seems like I'll have to go
through the school of hard knocks first, or find some decent docs, so that
I can understand the process.

Anyway, for now, my advice to the OP and others is to use the Installer if
the distro-specific binary doesn't work for any reason.  

Thanks and Regards.