Some of you may have seen the post floating around a few of the planets the last couple of days concerning the review of Automatix. I want to say that I have long agreed with the conclusion, but this puts more detail in writing. If you have used, do use, or are thinking about using Automatix please read the post here. Also, please do not use it. Yes, I know it makes installing things so easy. It also currently makes breaking your machine easy.
My intent in asking you not to use Automatix is not to make your life more difficult–quite the contrary. My intent is to help you have a officially or community supported machine so we can help you in the future. If you have Automatix installed and something breaks most of the community resources have tied hands at that point and there is nothing we can do. If you file bug reports they are to a large extent considered ‘tainted’ with Automatix and don’t receive the attention they should.
It is for this reason that starting today I will take the complete list of applications installable by Automatix and write a tutorial for each one. There are alternatives to Automatix. In many cases supported alternatives. It may take one or two more steps, but when you need help down the road it’ll still be available. Beginning with my next post (should be coming today) I will begin.
This begins the Ubuntu Tutorials series on – Supported Installation Alternatives to Automatix.
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