Rocks vs Debian packages (was: How to distribute Boyer-Moore code?)

[Norman Ramsey <nr@...>]

 > > For all that I'm sure rocks are nice and all, CPAN is pretty much an
 > > accepted standard distribution method for perl.  Rocks are not (yet)
 > > such a "standard" for Lua.
 > and it will never be if developers won't do rocks.

On the contrary.  Developers should do development.  Packagers should
do rocks.

Debian has the right model for the packaging problem: developers
('upstream developers' in Debian lingo) create software, which is what
they're good at.  They can know about debian packaging but they don't
have to.  Packagers ('maintainers' in Debian lingo) package software
for distribution.  They're usually not the same people.

If the Lua community wants a packaging standard, it had better create
a cadre of people who are willing to package 'upstream' software.
Most people who create software are too busy creating software to
bother with packaging.  I took the trouble (and it *was* trouble) to
learn a little about Debian because I more than save the trouble in
ease of maintaining the six computers I use.

All the argument above is independent of the merit of Lua rocks.
Unfortunately the Lua rocks effort is clearly at an early stage.
There appears to be no document that is the equivalent of the Debian
New Maintainer's Guide, and when I looked at the specification, I
found it complicated enough to make my head hurt.  (To be fair, the
Debian specification made my head hurt too, the first time I read it.)

 > > Furthermore, if one happens to be a debian user/developer, debs are
 > > often more desirable for various reasons, so effort spent making them
 > > is, at least, not wasted.
 > and if one is not, these efforts are wasted. but everyone on every
 > distro can install rocks and use it.

Turn this around: I'm a Debian user, so I can use a .deb for every
program written in every language.  Rocks are only good for Lua
programs.  Lua is a fraction of my output and a smaller fraction of my
research group's output.  So if I have time to learn only one, I will
learn Debian, because I can use it for all the software I write and
all the software my students write, not just software written in Lua.

Enrico Tassi has put in a significant effort specifying policy for
Lua-related Debian packages.  It doesn't cover everything but it would
be a start for automatically translating between Debian packages and
rocks.


Norman