To Automatix or not?

[Jonathan Jesse]

On Monday 20 March 2006 15:34, Vayu wrote:
> On Monday 20 March 2006 11:43, Jonathan Jesse wrote:
> > On Monday 20 March 2006 14:28, Lord Sauron wrote:
> > > On 3/19/06, James Gray <james at grayonline.id.au> wrote:
> > > > I've seen some discussion on two separate threads recently about the
> > > > merits of Automatix.  I'd like to share the following from Jeff Waugh
> > > > (Gnome developer ghod and Ubuntu guru):
> > > >
> > > > Quote: Jeff Waugh
> > > > "Please use EasyUbuntu instead of Automatix. There are a lot of
> > > > disappointly bad things done by Automatix that are better to avoid.
> > > > - Jeff"
> > > >
> > > > Take it or leave it.  I'm not trying to start a holy war or dis the
> > > > Automatix people.  Just advertising that there is an "Ubuntu
> > > > preferred" alternative :)
> > >
> > > What on earth is Automatix?  I looked through aptitude, but found
> > > nothing.
> > >
> > > --
> > > ========== GCv3.12 ==========
> > > GCS d-(++) s+: a? C++ UL+>++++ P+
> > > L++ E--- W+(+++) N++ o? K? w--- O? M+
> > > V? PS- PE+ Y-(--) PGP- t+++ 5? X R tv-- b+
> > >                 DI+++ D+ G e* h- !r !y
> > > ========= END GCv3.12 ========
> >
> > Automatix is a very bad tool that you need to download yourself.  It is a
> > script and is not avaialble through syantpic/aptitude/adept/apt-get
> >
> > --
>
> Actually it is a very good tool, that uses bad practices.   It is a script
> that gives you a checkbox menu list to install many of the most popular
> items.  It will get your multimedia going by installing all the codecs and
> players.  It will install Firefox 1.5, It will Install OpenOffice 2.x.  It
> will install Opera, and the list goes on of goodies that are often needed
> but not provided in a base install.  It will set your system up to use DMA
> for your CD drives, it will give you the scripts to right click in Nautilus
> and open a file as root.
>
> You can do a fresh install of Breezy, then run Automatix and you will have
> an entirely set up system that doesn't take all kinds of configuring.
>
> I used it for my kids PC and my laptop, when I just didn't feel like
> spending three days to get everything working.  It was amazing.  Better
> than windows. Two steps and I had fully functioning computers.
>
> It was all the rage until someone reported to the author that he shouldn't
> be using a force directive with apt-get install.  He replied that he had
> to, and then began the personal attacks.  There were two long threads on
> the Ubuntu forums that were the most uncivil and unreasonable I've
> experienced on those forums.  It was unfortunate because not only was
> Automatix a great tool it had a great following.  The author was presented
> with ways to achieve his aims without compromising systems.  He said he
> would implement them.  Since then I haven't heard anything other than he
> revoked this GPL license and the community which use to hail that program
> seems to be steering clear of it.
>
> I didn't really understand why he was so belligerently defensive.  His tool
> was fantastic, with a few changes it would have made for safer Debian style
> installs.
>
> From a fresh Breezy install and for most situations Automatix would not do
> any harm to your system.  By using the force directive there are situations
> where your system could break.  I believe it also used non-Ubuntu
> repositories and that was also considered dangerous.
>
> You can look up those two threads on the Ubuntu forums to find out in more
> detail.

Remember to check the legality of the programs you are installing as well.  
Not all of the codecs are legal in all countries