What is Boxenv? To make a long story short, Boxenv is a software suite written to improve the way software is distributed and installed on Unix-type platforms, especially (though not exclusively) Linux. Yes, there are a few tools that come with Boxenv other than installation tools, but the core feature of Boxenv always has and will be the improved method of packaging and installation. Boxenv already has implemented the following improvements in installation:
Simple Installation: With Autoconf, the traditional method of distributing software, you have to type about six commands to install a program. With RPM, you technically have only one command to type, but you have to know the options to use: and if something goes wrong in the installation, fixing it might be the job for a guru. However, with Boxenv, all you have to type to install a program is one, simple command: and that command doesn't have any options in it. Some day (hopefully some day soon) this will allow us to implement a double-click installation procedure. (It's about time Linux had one of those.) Of course, you have to first install and configure Boxenv itself before this can work, but there is work being done to make that process easier too.
Flexible Installation: With Autoconf, whoever packages a program has to decide where all the files go, and there's little-or-no flexibility on the matter. Even more so with RPM. And if that creates a problem with the way your directories are set up, for whatever reason (and yes, such cases are many) then tough-luck for you. However, Boxenv allows (and encourages) people who package software to rely on your preferences to determine where files go. Oh, but what if I install a program in a non-standard location, and then want to install another program that depends on the first program? Well, that might present a problem if the second program you install is packaged with RPM or Autoconf, but it does not present a problem if it is packaged with Boxenv, as Boxenv has ways of handling that too.
In addition to the ease-of-installation features Boxenv already has, there are plans to develop some more ease-of-installation features:
Prerequisite Handling: This is the feature that's currently in development. If you're installing a program with Autoconf, and one of the prerequisite programs is missing, Autoconf will simply fail. If you're lucky, it will tell you where you can find the prerequisite program if you're willing to go yourself through the hastle of finding and installing it. Same with RPM. Currently, it's the same with Boxenv too, but due to this current development project, it won't be that way for much longer.
Configuration Wizard: Also, in plans for future development, is a Configuration Wizard. Boxenv already works smoothly if it's installed and configured propperly. There is also a move out to get QuickStart distributions of it out so that you can easily install-and-configure it on the Linux distro of your choice. But what if you want to install a program and Boxenv's configuration is less than complete? Hopefully, we'll have a Wizard pop-up in such cases to help you out in the not-too-distand future.
Uninstall System: Eventually, Boxenv will have an infrastructure in place that will enable people who package programs to write easy-to-use uninstall scripts. This feature, once it's implemented, will allow people to more easily remove programs that they no longer need or use. (NOTE: I think I have in mind a strategy of how to do this, and if that strategy works then this feature will be in-place very soon.)
One objection some people have raised to the development of Boxenv is that we have enough software-distribution formats for our beloved platform already. That may be so, but just because we have enough formats already does not mean we have the right format already. Boxenv adresses issues of flexibility-and-ease of installation that the existing big-players (Autoconf and RPM) ignore. These issues need to be adressed if Linux is to successfully compete with Windows for marketshare (which on the long run will be something Linux will have to do if it is to continue to exist outside of museums).