DebianPlanet: dpkg/apt-get on 'non-Debian' systems

DebianPlanet takes up the discussion of past and future efforts to port dpkg and apt-get to non-Debian (and non-Linux) systems (like Solaris). Conectiva has shown that apt-get can be bolted on to RPM-based systems, but this discussion is more ambitious in scope.

"As Philip Brown eloquently puts it in a post to Debian-devel, "The Debian Packaging Manual goes above and beyond simple packaging. It specifies 'It must be compilable using this method'. apt-get merely takes advantage of existing Debian standards." Debian developer Chad Miller did draw up a draft plan to overcome some of these shortfalls with solutions such as designing a set of dummy packages that claim to satisfy the 'base' package requirements of most Debian's packages. However, Chad himself indicates he too is wary of Ben's past experiences, and the project itself hasn't been worked on too much. Until more attempts are made, it's probably best to check out solutions such as pkg-get which is used by groups such as sunfreeware. In the meantime, are there other package management alternatives such as BSD's famous ports system for other Unices such as Solaris?"

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