It's funny, when I read Tim Bray saying this:
Apt-get is just so unreasonably fucking great. Why aren’t we using it for Solaris updates?
My first reaction was "I've been wondering that for YEARS!" Of course, I wondered the same thing about Red Hat for nearly as long.
It's funny how open source solutions often outdo the commercial guys--even the ones who "get" open source.
Maybe Sun should offer a Debian style package repository for Solaris? I know there are some unofficial attempts at this, but I'm talking about a full-blown supported setup.
Posted by jzawodn at August 01, 2006 04:58 PM
Boy, no kidding. Every time I get stuck on a Red Hat box these days I wonder how and why people bother. (I make a point of not getting stuck on Solaris any more...)
Yay Debian.
I concur. Apt-get seems to be the best tool for managing packages. I would actually switch back to Solaris for some needs.
"Apt-get is just so unreasonably fucking great." - there is no better way to explain how I feel about it... right majky :)
apt is great, but will be exponentially more great when it supports binary diffs (which is in planning, I hear).
Apt is alright, but doesn't handle multiarch/multilib packages if I remember correctly, unlike Yum which is what Redhat uses. Also, the last time I looked at apt wasn't really being developed much, thought I heard this has changed recently.
There are apt implementations for redhat and fedora. I use them almost daily :) Plus.. up2date isn't all that bad
the main problem I have with RHEL's up2date is that its package selection is pretty slim pickin's. Especially when it comes to perl modules. One reason I continue to stick with gentoo for my personal machines is because of g-cpan (an automated ebuild generator for cpan modules)
oops, I should have looked before I hit POST after enabling javascript with NoScript, sorry :(
apt is what kept me using linux after cutting my teeth on mandrake and redhat, wow - 5 years ago. Its so much easier to admin a debian box using apt to install everything. Of course, it's a little harder to stay on the bleeding edge of stuff. Luckily there are many repositories like the dotdeb ones, for example, that packaged latest mysql, php before they go into debian/unstable.
Sun's been making a big push to get Solaris 10 out of their traditional niches, which is why I'm amazed that at the very least the Nexenta guys aren't just swimming in free Sun hardware & support services. Losing the Debian/Ubuntu userland pretty much dooms an interesting kernel unless I need a feature badly enough that it's worth automating away the stone-age sysadmin work.
Yeah. Nexenta is a Solaris Kernel + Debian packaging. And it sure rocks. Worth a try.
I'm not a linux guru whatsoever but thanks to apt I'm able to run 3 boxes and only need my admin guy once a month or so when I fxxed sth up. I'm lovin' it!
apt is great, and one component of this greatness is the incredible repositories that it uses. for this you can thank debian. the debian team puts in the hard work to integrate a huge number of packages, more i believe than any of its competitors.
I TOTALLY agree...... I have flat out refused to use anything non-Debian for years over this. I had a big fight with an ex-coworker in the past about this. We switched to RedHat Enterprise for a small trial and it totally failed...
What REALLY makes me mad is that all the hosting providers won't sell Debian. I have no idea why...
The real secret of the valley is that EVERYONE I know who runs Linux runs Debian. Wordpress, Technorati, OpenDNS (and of course Tailrank) all run Debian.
HUGE installs as well.
Debian is just an awesome server distribution.
Also... check out Debian GNU/Solaris:
W00t! I've been meaning to play with this actually but I need to get some extra hardware.
Kevin
After maintaining http://rpm.rutgers.edu/ [apt4rpm repository for solaris] for a couple years as a student systems programmer, I have to say that Sun shouldn't maintain an apt repository for Solaris. Anything that encourages people to stick with solaris instead of transitioning to truly open systems is bad in the long run. Instead of squinting hard and trying to pretend that Solaris is Linux, just bite the bullet, the suffering will be over before you know it.
ahhh but the real killer implementation of apt would be to port it for the windows world. There is more than enough windows and native port FLOSS available to start filling up such a repository.
Imagine the smug look on your non techy friends face when he shows you how all his great software keeps updating for free and at no cost.
windowfloss. kinda like candyfloss.
