Because that's a commitment they don't want to be tied to. Has Apple announced what phones it's new iPhone OS will be supported on? Did Microsoft announce which existing phones could run WM7?
They haven't announced but they're doing it anyway. They're consistent. Unlike Nokia who are consistent in abandoning support when a new device comes out.
being totally inexpert, isn't it possible to easily convert a .deb to a .rpm?
this, in the meaning that a developer can package an application as a .deb, and the system converts it automatically to .rpm when it's publicized on OVI/repositories..
at this point, it would make some difference only for expert users (-> those who use the terminal knowing what they do), no?
That's only half the story though. If it's a simple standalone package, yes it'll work. If it integrates with the system (ie. init, associations/mimetypes, icons, other package configs in /etc, dependencies) it may not work..
That's only half the story though. If it's a simple standalone package, yes it'll work. If it integrates with the system (ie. init, associations/mimetypes, icons, other package configs in /etc) it may not work..
Ah, so it's better than the current Maemo level of integration with Debian already!
There is no chance. The policy is that whatever package the device ships with is there, stays there, and cannot be replaced by a package which is not part of the PR (to avoid situations like PR parts using Qt4.6 which they have not been tested with). In other words, you would still have a libqt4-core.rpm and a development libqt4-maemo5-core.rpm which would the be renamed to the first one in the next PR. It's not that a packaging system cannot make the upgrade path or restricts it - it's a Nokia QA policy collateral.
I can only repeat myself - "in case of RPM there is a chance that Nokia choses a different policy"
That's only half the story though. If it's a simple standalone package, yes it'll work. If it integrates with the system (ie. init, associations/mimetypes, icons, other package configs in /etc, dependencies) it may not work..
I only gave an example for alien (as a reminder) not as a way to solve this mess. Also, I assumed the majority here knew about alien as you can see people here are preparing for a holy war around (RPM vs DEB).
That's why I didn't provide more information , anyway here is a nice quote:
Originally Posted by http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/alien/
Alien should not be used to replace important system packages, like sysvinit, shared libraries, or other things that are essential for the functioning of your system. Many of these packages are set up differently by Debian and Red Hat, and packages from the different distributions cannot be used interchangably. In general, if you can't uninstall the package without breaking your system, don't try to replace it with an alien version.
Honestly , I don't care about (RPM vs DEB). People here seems scared about learning new things [Ubuntu users?] like (yum , rpm or even urpmi). While the others are scared from RPM dependency hell*. All what I can say, RPM issue might still be existed even that I am running centos without problem.
*For those whom are wondering what is that, It is a problem you might encounter that wont let you install your app/lib or whats ever, because of a requirement that couldn't be satisfied.
"Error: Missing Dependency: X is needed by package Y"
