[conspire] Re: Trouble installing kubuntu-desktop

Rick Moen rick at linuxmafia.com
Mon Jan 16 01:18:08 PST 2006


Quoting Daniel Gimpelevich (daniel at gimpelevich.san-francisco.ca.us):

> Bruce found this page at last night's meet, and it's worthy of a bookmark
> at this time:
> 
> http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=92672

Good page. 

This is as good a time as any to mention the benefits and pitfalls of
third-party package respositories ("repos"):  The above-cited page
includes a suggestion to add the "plf" repository to
/etc/apt/sources.list on Breezy Badger (Ubuntu v. 5.10) systems.  That
is a third-party (unofficial) package repository operated by the PLF =
Penguin Liberation Front team - specialising in "litigious packages,
(packages that are patent encumbered or proprietary)".  

http://plf.zarb.org/
http://wiki.ubuntu-fr.org/doc/plf

They build packages of legally-encumbered packages for Ubuntu and
apparently other distributions.  Those are probably ones that (e.g.)
Ubuntu Foundation could not justify carrying in package mirrors on
account of the possibility that some idiot would sue them, e.g.,
Frauenhofer if they carried MP3-creation programs.

You are not guaranteed that any given third-party repository will meet
the main distribution's standards for package quality and compatibility, 
so, include such repos in your configuration with caution and with the
knowledge that there's a non-zero chance it will cause problems.  (The
same can be said for enabling the unsupported optional collections on
Ubuntu/Kubuntu:  universe, multiverse, and restricted).






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