On Monday 08 September 2008 00:01:27 Jeff Johnson wrote:
> Yes I hear how hard spec files are to write on a daily basis.

Ok, let me tell you the opposite then. ;)

The main reason why we picked rpm over dpkg or the likes when we 
started Ark Linux was that spec files are so much easier to write (and 
especially to learn) than Makefiles, dpkg control files, and the likes.

The good thing about spec files the way they are is that pretty much 
anyone who knoes how to compile an application in a shell prompt 
(which is still almost any linux user) can write a spec file.

We have a few "package monkeys" who don't know anything about 
programming and who know only the basics of shell scripting, but 
they can build rpm packages just fine.

I can see why a more experienced developer may prefer writing a 
Makefile or the likes (which is probably where you get the complaints 
from developers coming from other OSes -- the average Windoze 
user thinks it is confusing that a shell prompt doesn't start with C:\>, 
but loves writing MSVC project files that make no sense at all to 
people using a real OS) - but let's keep the package monkey 
interface around too...

ttyl
bero