On 6/13/06, n0dalus n0dalus+wine@gmail.com wrote:
I think that most users would just install 'wine' and use it. I don't think it's common for people to get confused over which of all the packages they should install.
Yeah, it is confusing.
Just a quick example. Let's say I want to install Samba. I've used Samba a lot, it's saved my butt more times than I can count. However, the packaging is a complete disaster and even as a knowledgable user I have no clue what's going on. Looking at rpmfind.net I see Samba has the following packages available:
samba (Um, I guess I'd need that.) samba-client (Well, that can be useful..) samba-server (Uh.. wait.. why isn't that part of Samba. That's what I need.) samba-common (Whoa.. if it's so important, why isn't it part of samba?) samba-winbind (Well, I may or may not need that, but it's small so I better download it.) samba-vfs (Um.. I know what Samba is, I know what vfs is. Do I need it? No clue. Better download it.) samba-pdb (No clue what this is. Maybe I won't download it. But what does it do? Anything important?) samba-python (Gee.. I like python. Maybe I should download it.)
And that's just the tip of the iceberg (samba-console? samba-vscan? samba-vfs-fake_perms?)
Anyway, it's such a god awful mess that someone deserves to be taken into a backroom and have all knowledge of building RPM's erased from their head. That's exactly what Wine shouldn't become. But who knows, maybe that's good for sys admins who keep up to date with the latest minor versions of every piece of software out there. Wine is an end-user utility who's installation and usage instructions should be:
Install Wine package -> Run program with Wine -> Magic happens -> Use program.
-Brian