[maemo-developers] rpm vs. deb and "universal binaries/packages"

[From: Christopher Intemann]

On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 11:56 AM, Andrew Flegg <andrew at bleb.org> wrote:

> On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 10:46, Christopher Intemann <intemann at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Since MeeGo is about to be released as well for the ARM as the Intel
> > platform, I really wonder whether either of the package formats (rpm/deb)
> > has the capability to include both binaries (ARM and Intel) but install
> > only the matching one automatically?
>
> Why not leave it up to the builder? Our current auto-builder, and OBS
> (as used by Moblin & MeeGo) both support the building of multiple
> architectures into multiple repositories.
>
> > Of course, this would probably double the size of the rpm/deb, [...]
>
> ...and so the download.
>
>
Yes, that's true, but since we're talking about mobile devices with limited
hardware, the apps are usually not that big anyways. I was just thinking
that the benefit would outbalance the size issue, at least as long as we're
talking about download sizes of one or two megabyte.


> > It would then be more transparent for the enduser to install additional
> > packages without having to think of their hardware architecture...
>
> Surely the user is going to be getting the package through some kind
> of package manager which makes the distinction moot? How often have
> you had to decide between i386 or armel debs on your Maemo device to
> date?
>
>
Sure, but is there a recent i386 port of Maemo at all? :-)
No one is running Maemo on i386, not even Nokia on their Booklet 3G.
However, this is likely to change in the future, since Moblin is already
common on netbooks. Of course, it is possible let the repository autodetect
the platform requesting a package and supply the matching one. On the other
hand, Apple had a great success story when they almost seamlessly switched
from PPC to Intel by introducing their universal binaries.

I'm just curious: Does either rpm or deb provide this feature?

Chris
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