future of smart

[Anders F Björklund]

Cliff Wells wrote:

>> My point was that they're not the same, Smart is more like Synaptic
>> (for APT) or Yum Extender (for Yum) where as PackageKit is more like
>> app-install/update-manager/update-notifier or pup/pirut/puplet...
>
> Personally, I think the simplified versions have little reason to  
> exist
> (except perhaps something like yum-updatesd for notifying a user of
> updates).  Smart-gui (for example) seems to adequately address the  
> needs
> of a range of users without hiding important information or making the
> process tedious.   I know there's a push to "dumb-down" the Linux
> desktop to make it more appealing to Windows refugees, but I think  
> this
> is a mistake.  They are refugees for a reason =)

It's even feature-complete with the one-click admin authorization  
too, so
that you don't need those pesky root privileges to mess with the system.

I didn't like it much either, so I wrote a Xfce panel plugin for Smart:
http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/panel-plugins/xfce4-smartpm-plugin

It does the job of notifying me of updates, and of launching Smart GUI.
The only thing missing is a package file viewer, like Ubuntu's "gdebi".

>> According to my understanding, the inspiration is "Add/Remove  
>> Programs"
>
> Except I don't believe that model translates well to Linux, where
> "Program" only occasionally means "monolithic package", and more often
> means "a whole set of packages that are interrelated".

You can always take those interrelated packages, and hide them (group  
them)
in a bigger container to make the list smaller. Like a "distro" does ?
Mac OS X does this all the time (and users like it), even though  
bloated.
And Klik offers something similar for Linux, at least how I  
understand it...

This is a good thing, when done right. But it probably needs more data
and new features than just "hiding" part of the lowlevel package list.
So I think the idea is sound, just not sure about the implementation ?
I'm perfectly fine with package updates "just happening", if it works.

Add/Remove is still better than InstallShield, but that's another story

>> I thought that Bleeding Edge was what running Fedora was all  
>> about :-)
>
> Yes, but there has to be actual blood in order to bleed.  The current
> PackageKit frontend is dry as a bone.


I'm afraid the blood would be yours ;-) From cutting on the bone knife.

--anders