Sometimes, I run into something so totally special that I am prompted to start thinking again.

Does anyone else think that it’d be a good idea to segregate the core of the system and the application software into two separate bundles of packages? Say, for example, that the base system would comprise the absolute core software—the software that comprises the operating system, and core libraries. These could be managed by some package manager that manages the base system, say, “sys-dpkg”. Then you’d have application software, which could be managed by the “dpkg” command that we all use for managing that sort of thing anyway. This would seem to make a _LOT_ of sense for LTS releases, though it’d be useful for non-LTS releases, as well. The idea would be that application software and application frameworks would be managed separately, such that they could be more fluid. As long as they don’t depend on a newer version of the base system, they’d easily be able to be installed on systems. Otherwise, what people are left with are really just frozen snapshots of the way software was at a point in time, unless they’re an advanced user. Even a regular user can install software on Windows… they can do it on something like Ubuntu, too, but they can’t just go somewhere and download the software and install it on their system. Wouldn’t it make sense to make packaging for application software easier, and promote the idea of a separation between the operating system and the application software?

Thoughts?