Re: [PLUG] apt-get / rpm freshmeat article

[mg <mg@infinity.stf.org>]

On Sun, 17 Sep 2000 Darxus@chaosreigns.com wrote:

> On 09/17, LeRoy Cressy wrote:
> > sounds a lot like the windows world that promotes what is installed is
> > what you get.  In late 94 I put linux on my system because I wanted to
> 
> You will always have a choice.  Feel free to install from tarballs.
> 

This quite true (as a slackware user I still install from tarballs all the
time although I'm trying to get into the habit of using pkgtool now) but I
dont think that that was LeRoy's point. There is a current trend in
distributions to shield the user from having to hand-edit plaintext config
files. The logical end of this path is windows-like environment where
plaintext config files are gone and flashy frontends and wizards are the
only way to get something done. As LeRoy pointed out this is just fine
until you need to do something that the frontend never though anyone would
ever have to do. It also keeps the user from really learning how things
work. I have gained an invaluable amount of knowledge from having to dig
through config files and man pages in order to get things done. I think
back and wonder if I would have gained the same knowledge if all of the
nice frontends to things that exist today existed back when I started
learning linux. I dont think I would have. I might know how to get things
done but I dont think I would have the intimate knowledge of various
pieces of software (or even protocols) that I do now. 

That being said, I realize that there are many people these days using
linux who dont want or need to learn every nook and cranny of the
system. That's fine but as LeRoy also pointed out this leads to an
insecure machine. This is a problem that lies with the distribution in my
opinion but that's a whole new issue. 

mg


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