Solaris 10 - impressions from a GNU/Linux user

Question

Firstly, this isnt flame bait, honest!
Until 10, I hadnt seen Solaris since rev6, then, I was worn (then) down by trying to configure a dial up model hacking chap scripts. Anyhow, I thought I'd look at Solaris 10, seeing as it was 'free' to play with. What follows summarises my feelings after looking at it again.
Download and install went smoothly, even the accompanying freeware DVD was installed in its entiretly to add all that utility/application-candy that makes a platform usable, or more than usable.
OK, so the java desktop is actually pretty good but now what? There is a dearth of anything useful in the distribution, all but the cut down linux distros come with a wide range of applications and supporting tools, they 'just work', and cusomizing program access paths to include all the freeware bin folders etc etc is not necessary, unlike Solaris with its truly painful packaging structure.
Solaris seems to have changed a great deal since I last used it, but as I spend most days running Linux development and deployment systems I had some expectations of what I should (by now) be able to do with Solaris. After observing the lack of configuration files I stumbled accross the web 'tool' to do the configuration (there were no default desktop shortcuts, no menu links, nothing - even under CDE), I was beginning to get that '6' feeling again.
What do people do after an install, they configure the network and set the hostname up.
I personally found the network configuration a royal pain. Using any other linux distro (suse and its yast configurator, gnome or kde configuration tools etc) all make the experience painless.
For the gigabytes of downloads I kind of expected something that would be useful out of the box. Yes, I can go and download xyz from sun freeware one package at a time but COME ON! After using Debian based UBUNTU perhaps Im spoiled by the Synaptic package manager. I was honestly shocked, thinking there must be something I'm missing but once again I could not find a single reason to switch to Solaris for my use (development, or deployment).
Im sure there are those who would tout Solaris as rugged, scalable, secure etc but all of that is irrelavent to me and my usage. From my perspective the targetted user base for Solaris appears to be narrow.
I can appreciate the licencing issues involved and that may indeed be the reason why many additional tools arent provided. In any event, I cant think of any reason to keep Solaris 10 installed, I can do everything I need with Linux with less effort thanks to the range of GNU/open source apps readily available.
If it works for you thats great, Im sure there will be plenty of points and my lack of time spent (a) reading (b) configuring (c) dowloading and compiling, but to be honest, I havent got the time!

Answer 1

compiing packages one at a time is possible but is
prone to non-trivial issues over symbols etc etc.
Never mind it takes time to find the source package
from website x, install the package, compile the
package, fixup your paths ready for running, try and
figure out if the app needs an icon in the menus -
and figure out how to do that too.Or, as you mentioned you could use Sunfreeware or the Companion CD with the caveat that you've already mentioned.
Contrast this method with the APT/Synaptic package
manager a) search by keyword for app (eg firewall)
from multiple repositories with thousands of
applications etc, select and hit go, it resolves its
own dependencies, it downloads, it installs, it just
runs, its integrated immediately with no further
effort. Blinding!Must be nice!
There are some apps that actually do this on Solaris. If they use the Midnight Commander shell on the download page I've had things like version 2 of Nessus configure, compile and install itself automatically.
These are few and far between though.
What I expected to do with Solaris is to be able to
configure it quickly and painlessly (nope), to be
able to install categories of apps I know I want but
dont immediately know where they are stored, maybe
sunfreeware.com maybe not (nope, no package manager
or anything similar), to be able to not care about 'I
need this library or that library' to resolve
dependencies and just install it! (nope). As I said,
I guess Im spoilled by APT/Synaptic, its a killer app
for the platform, making it more than useful.For Solaris I'm not aware of anything close to what you're describing.
compilers, apache, tomcat, evolution for M$Exchange
email intergration, eclipse even, never mind media
players & codecs. All without so much as a website
trawl/comipile/fixup cycle.I've heard that the Companion CD along with the Java Desktop Environment should get you most of what is listed above, but that uses the Companion CD and the caveat.
GNU/Linux experience. I asked myself the question,
how much effort would I have to put in to get running
at least a good portion of what I currently have? The
answer that led to my post was too much.From what you're describing it isn't that it couldn't be done, the issue is that it could be done, but going forward with Solaris would be more work than what you're currently doing, not a bad assumption.
alan