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by ickyforce 916 days ago
> I don't see how replacing the "it works on my machine" with "it works in this VM" is much better. It is the same problem.

It's not that. It's replacing "it works on my machine and I'm not sure why it doesn't on yours" with "follow these exact steps and it will work on your machine too".
1 comments
marcosdumay 915 days ago
Except when it doesn't, because not all problems are caused by the machine's configuration, and software that displays the "it works on..." feature tend to break due to the most diverse and uncontrollable causes.
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HelloNurse 915 days ago
If a large portion of the machine's configuration is managed rigorously the software will only break for novel "uncontrollable causes" outside this boundary, requiring learning and permanent process improvement without wasting time fixing the same issues repeatedly: an ideally efficient situation, not a problem.
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marcosdumay 915 days ago
Software should be robust to most uncontrollable causes. Not fail due to small changes.

It's perfectly reasonable to use containers to solve dependency management. But it's a really bad form to have containers as the only viable way to distribute your software, and a very reliable indicator that your software won't work at all.

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