Another issue.. Forking!

This blog entry is quite old, but exemplifies one of the core issues with GNU/Linux and that is binary compatibility between distros.

Ubuntu is a Debian based distro, yet is NOT fully binary compatible with Debian. It uses a lot of the same package management tools yet it diverged too far from Debian for it to be compatible.

The average user, or say the average programmer might not be aware of this, he might develop a deb package assuming it will work with Debian, Linspire, Xandros, Ubuntu, and other Debian based distros, the average desktop user is expecting just as much, and before you know it you'll have someone writing why this package doesn't install on this distro.

Now take this small example and apply it on all of the GNU/Linux distros, there is no simple binary package that will install on all, it is a pain for the developer and users. Some people and distros avoid this by compiling everything from source, but that is not a viable solution to a lot of users.

There is no silver bullet for this problem, especially when ego is involved, every distro want to hold on to its package manager, and replacing one package manager with another is a costly and lengthy process.