Ubuntu Software Center future

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

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Tim Heckman wrote on 28/09/14 23:32:
> 
> On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 4:11 AM, David Raphaël
> <raphael.david at epfl.ch> wrote:
>> 
>> However, I am a bit concerned about package management and I
>> think that Ubuntu should develop (or improve) its own package
>> management system in order for the distribution to be more
>> administrators friendly.
> 
> I'm sorry, but you can't cite an improvement in the GUI as being
> more administrator friendly. As an administrator of a sizeable
> Ubuntu fleet, dpkg/apt does everything I need it to. It's quick,
> it's reliable, and I've never had it break my system unless I had
> already done something stupid... Tried and tested with minimal
> magic.

Right. If you're an administrator who does need a graphical interface
(for installation profiles and repositories, for example), try Landscape.

> There are plenty of people I know who administer Ubuntu systems are
> actually turned-off by the desktop-centric vision. So be careful.
> 
> I'm basing my assertion that Ubuntu is desktop-centric based on 
> previous decisions that shipped.

On any given day, the front page of Ubuntu's Web site is more likely
to highlight server/cloud features (Juju, Openstack, Landscape) than
desktop ones.

> ...
> 
> If it's not broke, don't fix it.
> 
> I think they are more than welcome to add a UI around either
> dpkg/apt, but they should not develop their own package management
> system. To put it bluntly, it would be a stupid decision.
> 
> ...

In 1999, dpkg/apt was amazing. By today's standards, it is broken.
Maintainer scripts can do anything, which means there is no reliable
undo function, no sandboxing, no user-only installation, and the
package system can be corrupted merely by disconnecting the power
during an update. When an error does occur, apt returns only localized
error messages, effectively preventing any higher-level tool from
presenting tailored troubleshooting options. The entire apt package
list is stored on the client, which makes checking for updates slow,
and wouldn't scale to hundreds of thousands of apps. And every package
in the world is required to have a unique name, which doesn't scale
even to tens of thousands of apps.

- -- 
mpt

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