[cozzyd]

1) So /usr/local is now writable by users? Most software doesn't run as root regardless of where it's installed... I think you mean that you can install into a user prefix without admin privileges, which does make sense for certain packages (if different users require different versions, or something like that).

You can probably accomplish something similar with yum/rpm though by using the downloadonly plugin and using relocatable rpm's (though probably most distro rpm's are not relocatable, but that doesn't stop someone from creating a custom repository of relocatable rpm's and offering a script that does something like yum-downloader --resolve --destdir=~/.myrpms ; rpm --prefix=~/.local/ --dbpath=~/.myrpmdb -Uvh ~/.myrpms/* )

2) So? A repository of rpm specs or the debian equivalent could also be stored in git...

3) Maybe that's nicer, but it could probably build a .spec file (or the debian equivalent) as well in the same DSL which would be superior.

4) Probably because you never installed a kernel or other system package using homebrew

5) Yes homebrew, a third-party hacky collection of scripts necessary because OS X does not provide basic tools for managing software, is an example of superior OS design by Apple?