Dependency hell redux

[Jonathan Corbet]

Hi, Bill,

> As a Gnucash developer, I felt like the LWN article was pretty much a
> blindside slam.

I'm honestly sorry you feel that way, it certainly was not my intent.  I
made it clear that I wasn't trying to criticize gnucash, and I pointed out
that I've been using gnucash for over a year.  I pointed out that using all
those libraries developed by others was how the whole process is supposed
to work.  I *like* gnucash, I really do.  That is why I've written LWN
feature articles about it in the past.

I'm also pretty good at administering systems, but I couldn't get the
program to install on three different ones, running three different
distributions.  Oh, yes, and the Ximian GNOME 1.4 upgrade trashed one of my
Mandrake boxes fairly badly, I had to go in and fix a bunch of things by
hand so that I could log in again.  The existence and persistence of the
"dependency hell" thread on the gnucash list tells me that I'm not alone. 

LWN is often accused of excessive cheerleading for Linux.  Here I was
trying, instead, to point out a potential problem with the direction we are
going: a system with that many dependencies *is* a bit brittle.  I would
really rather not see Linux reproduce the Windows "DLL hell" syndrome.

Yes, I probably should have mentioned some other programs, just to balance
things out.  But: I installed Nautilus without trouble (*running* it was
another issue...I don't find it a nice utility like gnucash), and Galeon
dropped in without any problems at all.  

> Since you were having problems as your deadline approached, I would
> have thought it more appropriate merely to include our press release
> in this issue of LWN (which, BTW, it doesn't appear that you did, even
> in the section devoted to press releases about free software
> projects).

I most certainly did include the press release - in the very first sentence
of the article.  Also in our daily updates page since it came out.

> Hopefully you will have the time to fix your installation problems
> with Gnucash and write such an article for a future issue of LWN.  I
> would be happy to help in any way that I can.

I probably will.  I'm still very much anxious to run the new version.  

Meanwhile, if you would like to submit a letter for publication next week,
I would be more than happy to run it.

jon

Jonathan Corbet
Executive editor, LWN.net
corbet@lwn.net