Recent discussions about netscape and other non-gpl applications prompt me wonder about the debian packaging system. In most unix systems software that is not part of the distribution is compiled and put into /opt or /usr/local or some similar place. Usually developers will have make files for one or two unix versions. More recently, I have seen .config scripts that will create the make file for you after scanning the system for information about PATHS, compilers, libraries and other jazz. This information can also be obtained interactively from the user.
Now if we are concerned about administrators being able to keep all applications in the dpkg database, so as to insure system integrety, could not some kind of generic .config script be written that creates .deb files for non-supported applications. Actually I think some sort of wrapper program for creating debs would be very useful for upgrading applications that are part of debian. Really why should someone have to wait for a new deb file to be created by a debian developer if the application itself is actually already available? Many applications in stable are many many versions behind. A configuration script of the kind I am suggestion would allow a novice admin to easly upgrade and maintain their systems. The fact that we are over a year between releases suggests that original package maintainer-user relationship may not be practical in a world with thousands and thousands of linux applicaition. I am writing this from the perspective of an administration not a developer. I would not know to create the kind of deb creation and configurtion script I am describing. (I mention this to avoid the kneejerk "good idea why don't you write it" response) I just wonder if this is a practical solution to installing non-gpl applications that would also help keep debian more upto date without users being totally dependant on our excellent, but obviously overburdend development team. Does any of this make sense?
