This is sort of what I had in mind, except more for kernel items, which autopackage seems to steer clear of.
There is a reason for this. Some distributions heavily patch kernels.
But couldn't a group of people scrub a package before releasing it, as Bigpaws mentions the BSD folks doing?
Only OpenBSD does complete auditing for things that are under them. This does not include the
other BSD's in practice. Why not just compile from source, every distribution should be able to do
that?
It seems reasonable that we users should expect one package manager for all the distro's.
Those types of demands will be met with alot of flaming and resistance.
Had to think about this a while, but choosing a distro seems to come down to four basic things (if we exclude "look and feel"):
* How the kernel is configured
* What device drivers are available
* What applications are available
* System administration Grin
In the distributions that you have tried have you looked at a kernel config? Next device drivers, in reality these are modules. All which are included in the kernel. Applications available are you refering
to packaged applications or applications?
I applaud your question. IMHO is that you are missing several things.
A. Why there are so many distributions, for one reason or another someone felt that it should be done their way.
B. The one philosophy to make one program to do one thing and do it well
C. The denial of freedom to do something differently
There are fundamentals in Linux although they have been diluted to the point of almost non existance. That is not a feature.
Lets' think about it this way. You (general term representing those you have stated want this) are
demanding changes so that you do can do what you want irregardless of the problems. You are
demanding a unified (since this is what it would take) group to bow to your wishes. That is not the
best approach at least in the way I see it.
So many times I see posts in irc or forums mentioning not to go the a specific distributions forums or irc since you will get flamed. Those guys are elitist and have no time for a newbie. When in fact it is
those places that will not only help you but teach you why. However there is a catch, you have to ask an intelligent question. The question having all of the information needed to help and that you have tried doing something to fix it yourself. This is not the what is happening. This does not mean that you
can not ask how to get my video card working its that you should have prepared a good question and where your problem lies. If you do not wish to learn and just want to have it answered expect to pay for it, another type of choice.
Start looking at the root directories at least glance at them. Look at some philosophy about Linux in some older literature. This may bring to a path of enlightenment.
Bigpaws