[maemo-users] Canola never finds any media

[From: Steve Yelvington]

The problem is not with Canola per se, but rather with the overall 
sloppy condition of the Maemo repositories, both on maemo.org and on 
other sites.

Software often depends on other packages not in the same repository, and 
that's not documented or handled in any graceful way. So long as you 
stick to the three or four official Nokia applications, you're fine. As 
soon as you try to install anything you find listed on maemo.org, you're 
venturing into dangerous territory.

Trying to install Doom will muck up your entire system, as Application 
Manager will no longer be able to update repositories.

I just reflashed, and the first app from maemo.org I tried to install 
was the kagu media player. Can't do it. Application packages missing: 
libsdl-ttf, libgdbm3, libcurses5, libreadline4.

Where are they? No telling, but they're not in the repository specified 
in the .install file (maemo extras). My bet is that they're in 
maemo-hackers, but Application Manager can't figure that out. Nor should 
it have to.

This is particularly difficult for developers to handle because they're 
developing on machines that are all tricked out with extra libraries and 
-- here's the real problem -- they have to /know/ where those libraries 
came from.

None of the Linux application installation toolkits (on any platform) is 
particularly good at helping you figure that stuff out. So when a 
package gets built, critical details like these get dropped on the floor.

The answer might be "more testing," but bugzilla isn't a warm and 
friendly way to invite new users to submit issues. If my bugzilla 
password ever arrives in email, I'll be long gone onto another project 
and will have forgotten the bug I wanted to report.


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