Hubert Feyrer <hubert.feyrer@informatik.fh-regensburg.de> wrote:
 
> While we're at that topic:
> 
> I'm looking at a few Linux distribs @work right now, as we will have to
> get a replacement for Sun's discontinued Solaris/x86 sooner or later.
> As we need Oracle, NetBSD isn't an option.
> 
> What I wonder is:
> I'd like to have a distrib that allows decentral software management
> of "applications", e.g. what you  can do with NFS-mounting /usr/pkg (and
> /var/db/pkg and maybe /usr/X11R6) in NetBSD. Are there any distributions
> that don't throw their files all over the file system? (I have only looked
> at SuSE so far as it's very popular around here, but doesn't fit into that
> need).

I have a similar situation, where I need to provide some Linux systems
but don't want to have to live without my neat pkgsrc system...

So what I'm doing at the moment is install a Debian bare-base system[1]
and will then add Zoularis/bootstrap-pkgsrc[2].  Depending on your
requirements, you might want to do a LFC[3] and then use Zoularis.

Gentoo, which I had originally destined for this purpose turned out to
be inappropriate as its basesystem comes with a plethora of packages I'd
rather have in pkgsrc[4].

-Jan

P.S.: Further discussion can be held in private, if people find it
inappropriate on this list.

[1] Just do a bare install, after the first reboot it asks you to
install additional software.  Just select the absolute minimum (such as
various Linux filesystem tools etc.) and you get a pretty lean
installation ('lean' in Linux-land that is ;-).  I don't have enough
experience with rpm-bases distributions to know whether or not you can
easily achieve the same with them.

[2] http://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/othersrc/bootstrap-pkgsrc/ - it
looks more promising for my purposes than Zoularis, and I reckon
eventually it will merge into/become Zoularis.  For Debian a few
modifications will be needed.  I'll feed them back to agc when I've got
a working system

[3] http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ - fairly easy and you definitely
get a _very_ lean base system.  However, it requires more time (~hours)
than, say, the Debian install (<45 Min).

[4] Python, for example, is an absolute requirement for their 'portage'
system.  Anyway, neat distro nonetheless, and may be in fact sufficient
for your purposes if you can tell gentoo to install portages into a
specific PREFIX.

-- 
DON'T PANIC!