Unified package system? (Score 0)

Would it be too hard to find a standard way to form installation packages? A meta package which would hold the needed information. Then you could write an OS specific installer which installs the meta packages or converters to convert meta packages to OS specific packages/installers.

I know there are some hard parts to solve like lack of similiar file structure, different executable formats and lack of unified scripting language.. But could this be possible?

Perl can be used on almost any system for meta scripts, file system could be defined using a meta language like $programs.$appname.$executables which would translate to C:/Program files/AppName or /usr/local/bin according to OS specific package handlers.. Well.. Executables should be provided separately unless we are packaging source-only with compilation instructions..

I'm surely not the best man to speculate this - is there anyone who could give a good view on the problems of this kind of approach? It would surely make life a lot easier for the end users if they could install any package with their favourite installer app.. Easy wizard installers for beginners and more complicated but more versatile installers for advanced users..