Hi,
IPS is a tweak on rpm. I suspect a mostly overengineered one, SUN had massive ego problems
and looked down on Linux systems. So they could not just adopt rpm, they had to change it
sufficiently to one up Linux peasants (many of the original IP packages are based on an
import of Fedora rpm specs, with customizations like facets added in)
facets are basically a formalization of the subpackage naming conventions that accumulated
in rpm land over the years. Because they are hardwired in the package format, they are
more strictly enforced and enable all the kinds of optimizations one can do on a well-laid
and consistent repository.
So, quite good to have, but nothing revolutionnary.
Regards,
--
Nicolas Mailhot