What's a developer to do?

[Bruce Dawson]

Bill Sconce wrote:
> On Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:17:48 -0400
> Jason Stephenson <jason at sigio.com> wrote:
> 
>>Frankly, I think that is what the different distros are for, providing
>>binary packages that work with their mix of software and libs.
> 
> I agree.  It's the flip side of a user's perennial question:  e.g.,
> "should I wait for Debian to package XYZ for me or build it myself?".
> 
>>They [the distros] *should* be doing the work of distributing the
>>binaries. 
> 
> If that's correct, a developer who tries to package binaries for
> every distribution has chosen a difficult task.  A few organizations 
> (such as Mozilla) can do it, but it's a big deal. 
> 
> If a developer asks that all distributions synchronize libraries isn't
> she wagging the dog, getting it kind of backwards?

Except, if you're a developer, you want your software to run on all
platforms, regardless of architecture, libraries, ... This is what
Starpacks provide.

But this is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve, which is what
the original author is lamenting. Has the business of software
development (and resulting desire to lock-in customers) become so
ingrained that it has caused the industry to loose one if its Holy Grails?

--Bruce