Earlier I mentioned getting Fedora Core 3 installed on Virtual PC so I can start playing around with Mono on Linux. I finally managed to summon up the courage to attempt the install (figuring it would be a long night...I walked the dog early, bought a six pack, turned the phone off, replied to all the emails I needed to, etc), and lo and behold it turns out there isn't a Mono package available for Fedora Core 3. Ummm...ok? No, not ok actually. In the list of supported OS's, there is a smattering of SuSE/Redhat icons...but look, only 1 Windows icon! One installer for more than one OS version...what a novel concept. The hardcore guys out there would tell me install and compile from source...I'm not quite ready to be that hardcore yet. Regardless, this is where I get a little confused (and my thoughts of linux still not being ready for the desktop are reinforced). Why would a newer OS release need a different installation package? Is the Mono codebase which is installed different from previous versions? And yes, I know there are plenty of Windows software packages out there with different installers for 9x/NT, but those are two completely different OS's in developer's minds, with completely different kernels. The linux kernel (AFAIK) hasn't forked the way 9x and NT did. This just seems like a maintanence nightmare for the Mono guys; linux distros are updated on a fairly brisk basis (compared to Windows at least), keeping up seems tedious at best, but it shouldn't have to be. So I guess I'll just have to wait for a FC3 compliant Mono package to be released. At least I've got the 6 pack of beer.
Posted
Jan 05 2005, 12:38 AM
by
Jayson Knight