linux has a long way to go
i tried to install the latest firefox browser on my machine. i was unpleasantly surprised to find that there was no quick and easy installer. instead i had to download the .gz file, unpack it, unpack the tar, and run the install script. i had to guess which file actually performed the install because there was no README file.
i picked the right script and the GUI wizard launched. i thought i was on my way. WRONG. half way through the setup wizard i received the following error: “Couldn’t open xpistub library.” I googled for the phrase and found masses of folks with the same problem.
i found one reply to a frustrated user that stated that you needed a fairly recent version of RedHat for the install to work (WHY?). so i decided to upgrade my RedHat install since it is about 1 year old. i remembered that RedHat now has a handy update manager much like Microsoft so I figured this would be pretty fast. WRONG! I double-click the RedHat Network Update icon on my desktop and I receive the following exception!
Exception type SSL.Error
Exception Handler Information
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/bin/../share/rhn/rhn_applet/rhn_applet.py”, line 424, in refresh
self.model.refresh(force)
File “/usr/bin/../share/rhn/rhn_applet/rhn_applet_model.py”, line 264, in refresh
self.rpc_server.refresh(force)”
I am also told to email this stacktrace to RedHat at a specific address which I did.
Finally I go to the RedHat website as a last resort to upgrade my OS so that I hopefully can get Firefox to install. When I navigate to www.redhat.com I am greeted with:
Site Maintenance
In order to provide you with a better experience on redhat.com we are currently doing site maintenance and upgrading our systems. We apologize for any inconvience this may cause. Please come back in a few hours for full access to our improved site.
To contact Red Hat Support please call 1-888-RedHat1.”
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Bottom Line:
Linux has a VERY LONG WAY TO GO.
Can I figure out all the problems? Sure.
Do I want to? No.
I have more important things to debug.
