News Flash: If Your ISV Doesn’t Support Your OS, Software Installation is Tricky | eWEEK Labs

News Flash: If Your ISV Doesn’t Support Your OS, Software Installation is Tricky

Written By
Jason Brooks
Jason Brooks
Dec 18, 2006
1 minute read
eWeek content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More

Ian Murdock, the founder (and second syllable) of the Linux operating system Debian, is sounding off about his displeasure with software installation on Linux.
For instance, he cites the install procedure for Sun’s Java Studio Creator. On Windows, you double click the exe. On Linux, make the install script executable, run it to extract an RPM, and install that RPM–if, of course, your Linux distro supports RPM, which many, such as Ubuntu Linux, do not.
The trouble of course is that while supporting Windows means supporting one OS, supporting Linux means supporting a potentially unlimited number of OSes built atop the Linux kernel.
The answer? Ask your ISV to support your Linux OS properly, preferably by making available a network repository with binaries packaged for your particular OS. If enough other customers use the same OS as you, maybe it’ll work.
For a cleaner, broader, easier answer, I’m looking forward to reading Murdock’s followup post, which he’s said will be a summary of the goings-on at the Linux Standard Base group’s recent software packaging summit.

eWeek Logo

eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site's focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.