Create an RPM/DEB cross compatible Linux distro. Possible?

[DarkPenquin]

The title asks it all.

How about the Open Source community create a real good cross compatible system that uses both DEB and RPM equally well. Possible?

I know windows and Linux operate differently but the Linux community can learn a lesson from Windows here. In Windows you can have an exe, a zip, a rar file all used for distribution. No matter what libraries those programs contain Windows can work with them all to make the program work.

Why not merge the capabilities of a deb system with an rpm system to create a system that will play well with both formats? The hardware will do it already driven by software. We know this because the same hardware can work with either format.

Windows XP, Vista and 7 can use programs made for each other in a nice cross compatible way. Why can't Linux do something similar?

I submit to you Linux CAN, it's just that the software for this has not been written yet.

So you have a stable kernel that can work with both formats, and the hardware will. so.. re-write everything else to make this work. I say it can be done and it would solve lots of headaches for many people.

I'm trying to get the open source community to think Out The Box. I'm not a programmer, I'm a mechanic/inventor. I can take something apart, fix it put it back together and at times make improvements to said tool to make it different, better. That's where I'm coming from.

Instead of saying, " it cannot be done, ask, what would I as a coder need to do to make this work."

[oz]

If I'm understanding your post, this idea or concept is nothing new and a number of such projects have come about in the past. A couple of them would include Listaller and Autopackage:

Listaller Project - Main Page

Autopackage

So far, these types of projects have not caught on all that well in my opinion, but that could change in the future.


Edit: since the issue itself is more package management related than it is distribution related, here's a link to a wiki page regarding package management that might shade further light on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_management_system