Binary incompatibility of Linux distributions

[anthony baldwin]

Steven Susbauer wrote:
> On Sat, 16 May 2009 09:24:17 -0500, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> 2009/5/15 anthony baldwin <photodharma at gmail.com>:
>>
>>> One thing I can't figure out is why the home page for each app isn't
>>> always listed in the synaptic descriptions, so one could just click on
>>> it and see the apps home page to learn more about the app.
>>> That would, IMHO, be a really good idea.
>>>
>>> For some apps a home page is listed, but not a link, and for the vast
>>> majority of apps, no home page is listed.
>>> I find myself googling stuff...
>>>
>>> /tony
>>> --
>>>
>>> http://www.photodharma.com
>>> art & photos | tony baldwin
>>>
>>> http://www.uuchaliceart.com
>>> Unitarian Universalist art.
>> Lots of apps don't /have/ a homepage. A basic Linux distro consists of
>> tens of thousands of binaries. Not every one has its own distinct web
>> presence. Is there much point in a homepage for the ls command? It's a
>> program in its own right.
>>
>> Secondly, home pages can change and come and go. Software authors
>> might not want them linked to their home internet account, for various
>> reasons, not least of which is spam-prevention. If they don't have or
>> don't want to use free web space, they might not be in a position to
>> pay for a site to be hosted elsewhere.
>>
> 
> 
> Obviously if others are able to download their software, they are having  
> it hosted. Most places such as sourceforge offer at least a basic page for  
> the software. The fact that Googling reveals a homepage also shows they  
> are hosting one. There is probably another reason the homepage field is  
> not being included.
> 
> You do not install ls through the ls package, it is part of coreutils,  
> which does have a homepage (http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/). The  
> Ubuntu version is much customized and doesn't include the homepage link,  
> which makes sense as you wouldn't want somebody downloading the GNU one  
> and thinking it's a snap-in replacement.
> 


I wonder how difficult, how much damage could be done, how much headache 
I would cause myself if I DID replace the ubuntu coreutils with the 
normal set....

/tony

-- 

http://www.photodharma.com
art & photos | tony baldwin

http://www.uuchaliceart.com
Unitarian Universalist art.