I think <a href="http://0install.net" rel="nofollow">http://0install.net</a> is a better solution as it handles updates and works on multiple platforms.<p>Regardless, unless a couple of major distributions support one of these alternative install systems they're ultimately a futile effort. This is something that's unlikely to change since from a distributions standpoint they don't offer significant advantages over the status quo.<p>As an aside, to anyone considering an alternative install system, please take heed of the PC-BSD folks and bootstrap your package system by generating packages from an existing system.