[Zope] What causes the community to stall so often?

[Derek Simkowiak]

->    That because you manage only one computer. Think about poor sysadmins who
-> maintain dozens servers on a site - they just don't have enough time to
-> untar and compile all that crap...

	It's much more than just ease of installation.  If "./configure,
make, make install" did the valuable things RPM did for me, I wouldn't use
RPM.

	RPM is system-wide version control.  'Pristine' sources.  A safe
upgrade path.  An established method for handling dependencies.  A way to
verify that the files have not been tampered with.  A quick way to see
what is or is not installed on a particular system.  A way to identify the
purpose of any little file on your hard drive.  A way to CLEANLY uninstall
something.

	Depending on "make uninstall" is dangerous; it assumes that the
admin knows (a) all packages on a particular system, and (b) all
dependencies between those packages.  Not exactly a good idea for a
production environment.  (It also requires you to keep a turd of a build
directory lying around, but that's just an annoyance.)

	Also, having a C compiler on a production server is dangerous, as
it gives script kiddies the ability to run the shell script they
downloaded and wind up with a rootkit on your system.  RPMs avoid that
vulnerability.  (Not that it can't be worked around... I'm referring to
unskilled punks.)

	Operating Systems come with package management systems for a
reason.  It's one thing for me to futz around on my workstation, but in a
production environment -- where you don't know who is using which systems
for what purposes -- RPM (or DEB, or to a much lesser degree pkginstall or
the 'ports' system) is an invaluable tool.


--Derek