this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ignoring you're right there are plenty of instances where a common name would carry over multiple install options.

What I'd rather is to allow two parameters. The tool should be included as well as the package so 'install apt openjdk' or ' install npm yarn'

Of course the problem then becomes a lot of these install apps have their own set of parameters.

Now I'm curious if anyone has written a universal installer.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You are missing the point. The author is satirizing the fact that there are so many tools and patterns that do basically the same thing. The author doesn't want to bother figuring out what installation method this particular tool recommends. So they have this script so that he can run geterinstalled inkscape and let the computer figure out which one works.

If you were going to write geterinstalled pip foo you may as well just run pip install foo.

Also note the title-text, which addresses this exact issue:

The failures usually don't hurt anything, and if it installs several versions, it increases the chance that one of them is right. [...]

https://xkcd.com/1654/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Not missing the point. I know it's satire. As a thought experiment it got me interested though nothing more.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I've been working on one for a minute but the best solution I've come up with is searching every package manager when search is invoked but otherwise requiring the package manager to be declared via pkgman.package for installs/removes etc.