Victor, you seem to have missed the
installation guide, a link to which can be found on top of the
download page.
You also seem to have missed the
README file (which is included in the downloads we provide, and linked to from the
installation guide), which reads:
2. Installation
Linux:
Note that due to the various Linux window manager variants we can only provide
generic installation instructions here. Please check the FAQ and read up on the
forums for more verbose instructions.
After downloading the installer package, you need to make it executable. Use
your file manager/browser to browse to the directory containing the downloaded
file. Right-click the file, select the option to inspect and change this files'
properties/permissions, and make the file executable by its owner. Now double-
click the file to execute it. You need not and should not run the installer as
the administrative user (root) or via sudo, but as a normal (restricted) user.
The graphical installer will show up and display the MegaGlest license. Install
the game into a directory below your home directory (the default location of
~/.megaglest is fine) or any location of your choice (within the boundaries of
where your Linux user may write to). Once the installer completes, a MegaGlest
starter/shortcut will show up on your window managers' application menu.
This README is also displayed during the install process. Note also how it points out that you should
not use sudo to install. It is one of the most spotted criticism of Ubuntu that it trains users to quickly resort to sudo when something "doesn't work" (and thus possibly run commands as root which should be run as a standard user, or, worst case, should not be run at all, like a trojan or other malware).
It would be good to know how you missed these hints, since we try to make them available to everyone. Can you hint
us there in return?
It's obviosuly more difficult to find these things for someone whose native language is not english, but yours seems to be fine, so I assume it's not that in your case.
I'd claim that the installation process is actually quite straight forward with our installers, also for people who have not been using Linux for long. So I can't count this argument for .deb's.
Homogeneity is the installation process on deb based Linux distributions (only) is an argument for producing .deb's, also that it would be in line with the FHS and with the 'Debian way' (i.e. its policies), which I mostly like.
On the other hand, the added workload involving in maintaining and providing proper deb's (for example, I would not label the DEB packages the Opensuse Build System (OBS) creates 'proper', they are just automated conversions from RPM) is an argument against it. Also, if we did provide DEBs we might also have to provide packages for other Linux distributions, in different package formats and with different dependencies which need to be tracked. And we might need to provide package repositories.
I would also like us to produce .deb's, and while the
playdeb/getdeb team has kindly provided .deb's for MegaGlest
on request in the past, and while it would be awesome to get MegaGlest into Debian (and thus into Ubuntu, which
reproduces about 90% of Debian), I assume
we are not yet ready to do so ourselves. While we made lots of progress in this direction thanks to Softcoders' work, we seem to be currently stuck somehow.
So for now I would think our primary goal is to make packaging easy for those who intend to do so. This already involves quite a bit of work, much but not all of which has been done, yet (and it's a steady process, too).
