I am no programmer (but soon will be after college). I just had an idea and I wanted to see if the rest of the community felt the way i do.
Package management I feel is one major problem in people accepting Linux (ya ya ya...linux wasn't made to compete against M$).
I just wanted to know if the idea of creating a KDE or Gnome application to handle building from source and automating RPM, DEB, TGZ creation.
I just thought that a GUI program that could automate source -> package -> install would be helpful in making Linux sound more user friendly.
I currently have no problem using the CLI to install from source. I use ./configure && make && checkinstall to make my own TGZ slackpacks.
Or maybe Nautilus or Konqueror could have a plugin to handle doubleclicking of configure files and automate the rest so grandma doesn't have to use the CLI (like she would...hahaha).
If i get the chance later on in college to create a similar type of program, I will but right now I have to learn Visual Basic (ya...i know...argh).
I was thinking along the lines of a make && checkinstall frontend. Or I could build one from scratch (GPLed of course). It wouldn't be for a while though. i haven't taken any C classes.

Any comments?
Just an Idea!!!

Thanks
A Slacker

I think that your idea is good in theory... I would bet that Increased automation of Linux would upset many 'hardcore' linux users. I guess that these folk typically want to tweak and fiddle around with their systems themselves... A automated program for this type of linux user would be anathema to a user having full control over their machine.

For this reason some linux users avoid using simple distributions like Mandrake, Suse etc, prefering to get down to the basics and doing things for themselves... it is essentially an aspect of the the hacker ethic.

An automated tool like you are proposing might appeal to people who did not have time or inclination to learn the various linux commands, but im not convinced that that kind of individual would be using linux in the first place...??

But my opinion is simply to do what interests you. See whether you can design / develop a program like this & get other open source programmers to get involved. You never know until you try...

good luck

On the other hand, I think there are a lot of people out there that would like to use Linux but either don't have the time or the inclination to learn the various commands. I actually know of several people who fall into this category. They want to use Linux to get away from M$ but are....intimidated? I guess? I think a tool like this would be great for getting more people to try and use linux...and the guys that didn't want to use it, wouldn't have to.
Good luck, whatever you decide!

As for a GUI frontend for installing Slackware packages in GNOME, I've made one here. It's really for use with Dropline systems due to the PAM and zenity dependencies but they can be added to any Slackware system. Just right-click on a slackpack in Nautilus and choose to open it with zinstallpkg. It's not really necessary but it does provide that easy to use frontend for those intimidated by the CLI.

If you're running Debian, you should definitely check out synaptic. It's a GUI front-end for apt-get that makes package management a breeze!