Should Automatix be included in Ubuntu by default?

[Scheater5]

Quoted from the Automatix wiki

If someone on #Ubuntu told you that Automatix caused a certain problem don't believe him/her. Its a known fact that the #Ubuntu channel spreads misinformation about Automatix. If you ask us for help and you mention that your were told by someone on #Ubuntu that Automatix caused the problem, your request for help will be ignored.

Anyone read this, or know what's up with this?

[aysiu]

arnieboy is extremely defensive about Automatix... many times rightfully so.

Sometimes criticisms of Automatix are founded and eventually taken seriously by the Automatix developers. Other times, criticisms are just FUD.

A lot of people are anti-Automatix for no good reason, and that's probably what that was in response to.

Is Automatix perfect, though? No. Any software has bugs in it.

[Quillz]

All I can think of is that (apparently) the Ubuntu developers don't recommend Automatix for one reason or another, although I've used it to install some programs with no issues whatsoever.

[aysiu]

All I can think of is that (apparently) the Ubuntu developers don't recommend Automatix for one reason or another, although I've used it to install some programs with no issues whatsoever.

I used Automatix once just for fun, and it worked perfectly for me, but, you're right--it doesn't seem to be officially espoused.

From the Ubuntu community help page on restricted formats:

Installing non-free media format support with Automatix
Automatix is a third-party utility for automating the installation of the most commonly requested applications in some Debian-based distributions. While it works well for many users, it is also known to often corrupt systems and leave them in a state where upgrading to a later Ubuntu release is impossible. You have been warned; use at your own risk. Please join #automatix for support with Automatix.

[K.Mandla]

For my own experiences, I can only say that Automatix worked each time I used it, exactly how I wanted and without any errors.

I did stop using it about a month after I found it, but that was because I wanted to learn more about how those things worked, and I realized I was relying on it too much.

I suppose you can take that for what it's worth; I for one never had a problem with it, but I also don't use it because I no longer feel I need it. To each his own.

[BarfBag]

I've used Automatix over and over again since the beginning. I haven't had a single problem with it.

[bionnaki]

ive also encountered this misinformation on IRC where individuals were saying automatix will mess up your installation. I have never had any trouble with automatix. For most applications, I install via terminal but for codecs, I prefer to use automatix.

[picpak]

This used to be true...over a year ago. On Breezy, using Automatix to upgrade to OpenOffice 2.0 breaks OpenOffice in an upgrade to Dapper. It was also built up from a lot of hacks.

Nowadays though, it's learned a lot from its big brother Easy Ubuntu, and Automatix2 is quite nice.

[Johnsie]

I got in trouble in #ubuntu for recommending automatix to someone. After that I stood up for automatix because I think it's invaluable and dont want some kid in #Ubuntu telling me what software to recommend. I'm not going to say who it was but that person kept threatening to kick me if I recommended automatix. Since then I have tried to avoid the channel which is sad because apart from that incident #ubuntu has been really useful for me.

[aysiu]

This poll is over a year old and closed, but I think it makes it pretty clear that Automatix--while not perfect--has worked for a lot of people... at least 1500 people.