[derefr]

Debian solved this particular problem a long time ago, with pbuilder(1): packages that are installed "from source" simply get compiled in a chroot. Strangely, nobody has ever copied the idea.

The modern hipster-language equivalent would probably be to make the package manager depend on the presence of Docker/rkt/systemd, and use it to pull down a dev-env container and build the native bindings in that.

[ambrop7]

Nix/NixOS - everything is build not only in a chroot, but also in various namespaces. Of course that doesn't help if you actually use a package (directly or indirectly) hence executing it outside of the build chroot.

[digi_owl]

Similar with Gobolinux, iirc. With a union mount on top to redirect the files written during the install step.

Afterwards the sub-directory in /Programs can basically be turned into an archive for future installs.

[riffraff]

the problem with relying on chroot is that (AFAIK) it might not be available on all platforms supported by the language-specific package managers.

[arianvanp]

The new Docker runs on Microsoft Hyper-V and on Mac's equivalent. So that would actually be a solution.

[riffraff]

in a very restricted sense maybe, but for example perl's CPAN also supports stuff like HP-UX, AIX, z/OS, NonStop and OS/400[0].

[0] http://www.cpan.org/ports/

[regularfry]

Don't give them ideas!