[epp-dev] installers on non-windows platforms

[Markus Knauer <mknauer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi *,

during the Ganymede Workshop I had some discussions about installers on 
non-windows platforms, i.e. Unix (most important flavour is Linux) and Mac 
OSX with Andrew from the Linux Distros Project, but I started thinking about 
this issue when I assembled the first package prototype.

First of all: I am on Debian Linux... and I never saw a Windows-like installer 
on that system, nor on any other Linux or Unix that I've used before. An 
installer like we are used to have on Windows is nothing that you will find 
on systems like this. Instead you have a package manager that handles the 
install, update, dependency resolution, and removal of the RPM, DEB, 
ebuild, ... packages. These managers are written for multi-user installs, 
place the files into the correct directories and keep track of all the files 
that came with this package.

Therefore I don't see the need for an installer on these systems that looks 
like a Windows installer. There is nothing that such an installer could 
provide as additional service. E.g. if you think of menu entries: They are 
different on Gnome/KDE systems and differ from one Linux distribution to 
another.

Another important fact is the existence of the Linux Distros project: They are 
responsible for creating such installable packages. IMHO we should 
concentrate on working together with them, instead of going into the deep 
problems that are involved in creating an installer for that platform on our 
own.

On the other hand, Mac OSX users like to get a 'filesystem image' which they 
can 'install' on their systems by mounting the image. They are also not used 
to get a Windows-like installer.
So far I had no success to build such an image file on my Linux box. Any help 
is welcome as I don't have any experience with the Mac OS.

My conclusion: Try once more to build filesystem images for Mac users, work 
with the Linux Distros project, and concentrate on building a reliable 
installer that works on Windows.

What are your opinions on that?

Regards
Markus