Why distros lack debian's large package repositories

RedNeck-LQ · 12-12-2011, 04:03 PM

Howdy,

Do you believe distros should have the same amount of packages as debian based distros?

For example, ubuntu and Mint have some cool packages that my distros doesn't have.

I sometimes use alien to convert deb files to my system's packaging format but it is a hit and miss thing.

Not a fan of the *buntus, but my last two resorts to using those programs are:

Build from source
install Mint/ubuntu in a VM.

sycamorex · 12-12-2011, 05:31 PM

Having a large package repository necessitates a lot of work spent on testing all the packages available within a given distro. This is doable if you've got such a large community of developers like Debian has. Some other distros (eg. Slackware) having limited human resources can't afford to spend so much time on testing tens of thousands of applications.

Telengard · 12-12-2011, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedNeck-LQ

Do you believe distros should have the same amount of packages as debian based distros?

Where FOSS is concerned there's no reason they can't. Someone just needs to step up and build the package.

kbp · 12-12-2011, 05:36 PM

Debian has been around a long time and therefore has a lot of packages available, but then again it depends on whether you're talking about packages provided by the distro or 3rd parties. It would be interesting to see the numbers actually, theres some Fedora stats here for example: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/stats ..

linuxpokernut · 12-12-2011, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Do you believe distros should have the same amount of packages as debian based distros?

Nope. Its nice to have all that stuff at your fingertips but I invariably need to compile something no matter what distro I wind up using. Each distro has its own flavor.

RedNeck-LQ · 12-12-2011, 05:59 PM

I build from source if my distro doesn't have the package, but if I have trouble compiling the software I then use Mint in a VM and install the package from there.

Still, I wish the distros had the same amount of packages as debian tho

much obliged for the replies.

craigevil · 12-12-2011, 07:59 PM

Synaptic shows I have 36721 packages available, but I have several 3rd party repos in my sources.list.

Code:

$ inxi -r
Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list
           deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free                                               
           deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ experimental main contrib non-free                                           
           deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ unstable main non-free                                                      
           deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main                                                            
           deb http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ stable main                                                        
           deb http://deb.opera.com/opera-beta/ stable non-free                                                              
           deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ experimental iceweasel-aurora                                                      
           deb http://qt-kde.debian.net/debian/ experimental-snapshots main                                                  
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-musicmanager.list                                      
           deb http://dl.google.com/linux/musicmanager/deb/ stable main