pkgsrc as the universal package management system.
In recent discussion at Slashdot about “refocusing” the development of Linux, it was suggested that the various distributions should standardize on a common software package installation and management system. If that were ever to happen, which is quite unlikely, then pkgsrc would probably be the best option.
Although originally for NetBSD, pkgsrc has come to support a wide variety of platforms over the past decade. The supported platforms also include FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, Solaris, Darwin, HP-UX, OSF/1, AIX, IRIX, and more. So a community effort to put support behind pkgsrc would benefit a wide variety of users using a wide variety of platforms.
But it’s doubtful, in my mind, that we’ll ever reach a consensus when it comes to package management. Even though many of the systems today offer a comparable feature set, some people just get too emotional about the situation. They just can’t accept the use of a different package management system than the one they’re used to, or the one their favourite distribution uses.