[tex-live] InstallJammer

[Damon Courney]

Reinhard Kotucha <reinhard.kotucha <at> web.de> writes:

> 
> >>>>> "Rolf" == Rolf Niepraschk <Rolf.Niepraschk <at> ptb.de> writes:
> 
>   > Welcome to the home of InstallJammer on the web.  InstallJammer is
>   > a multiplatform GUI installer designed to be completely
>   > cross-platform and function on Windows and most all versions of
>   > UNIX with eventual support for Mac OS X.
> 
> Maybe a nice feature for Windows users who never care about what they
> do.
> 
> I do not accept binary installers because I can't see what they do
> before I execute them.
> 
> And I'm not always at home when I install new software on my computer
> at home.  An installer which requires X11 is not very useful at all.
> 
> Hence I'm quite happy that Frank Küster told us that the licence is
> inappropriate.


    So, what about RPM?  Do you actually run your RPM without installing
to see what it will do everytime before actually installing, or do you just
'rpm -i' it when it comes from a reputable source?  Or, do you always just
compile everything from source?

    While I tend to agree with you that I don't like installing things when
I don't know what they're doing, if you've downloaded it from a reputable
source (like the developer), I generally expect that the installer is safe.
The same should be said for RPMs and even .tar.gz's for that matter.  Just
because you compile the source yourself doesn't mean it won't do something
tricky once it's installed.  Binary installers, like any means of getting
software onto a computer, can be trusted only as far as you trust where the
software (and installer) came from.

    I wrote InstallJammer because my mother would NEVER, in her lifetime, be
able to use a Linux system because she would never figure out (or take the
time to figure out) how to install software.  I want to see Linux in the
desktop world, and on the average user's computer, but software installation
seems to be a big sticking point with a lot of average users (and developers,
like myself, who write for the average user).

    Windows users care just as much as the next person about the software
they put on their computer.  No one WANTS spam and spyware and viruses, but
that's not inherent to the installers they use.  Remember.  Even you would
have popped in a Sony CD without a second thought to it before the rootkit
scandal hit.  I would have too.

    Even if you did teach every new user how to install Linux software with
the one of a half dozen package systems available (depending on your distro),
or God help you, teach them to (configure && make install), 999 out of 1000
of them would still just do it exactly as you showed them after they
downloaded something.

    Every developer chooses their own method of delivery.  With InstallJammer,
I can package up everything exactly as I want it and make it so that when it
installs on the target system, it does everything I want in a way that's easy
for the average user to understand.  People just want their software.  They
don't care how they get it onto the machine.  We can't all be security gurus.

Damon