Untz: Results of the App Installer meeting, and some thoughts on cross-distro collaboration

This is just my answer, not an answer from a wise person who has thought much about the matter. Mainly, I would say, because it reduces complexity. A FLOSS-style binary distribution requires masses of testing to ensure that every component works well with every other. Using bundles with reduced dependencies reduces the testing burden on the maintainer, even before you worry about cross-distribution installation.

Then there is the traditional argument that bundling dependencies frees you from worrying what is or is not available on the user's distribution. You just bundle it yourself, test your package and are happy.

Plus my personal feeling is that the package database on a FLOSS system is always a potential place for things to go wrong. Thankfully I think this has only hit me once (or maybe twice), but if it does get corrupt you are in for a massive fixing (or re-installing) session that would be much less painful on a system mainly using bundles. And from a cleanliness point of view, it is much easier to have an overview of what a system mainly based on bundles has on it. I must admit that that last point is what I find most attractive about bundles - they give you much more of a feeling of being in control of your system while (by) structuring (if not reducing) its overall complexity.