Dne, 18. 10. 2014 03:20:25 je Joel Rees napisal(a):
When I look at systemd, the fundamental design and structure fly in
the face of reason. I'm not trying to be insulting when I say that.
For some of us it really does fly in the face of reason.
I second that.
Some terms that have been used to describe engineers who would try to
put too much into core processes include "arrogant", "prima donna",
and "trying to defy the law of gravity without wings". These terms
were not intended to insult. They were intended to point out that, as
we gained real-world engineering experience, we would tend to quit
doing such things.
In my view, any personal attacks on Poettering, Sievers et al. were
largely misplaced and unwarranted for. And I'm not saying this out of
political correctness. I'm saying that out of practical reasons: such
attacks only shifted the focus from the merits, or demerits, of their
software, which should actually be our only concern as Linux users. If
they were not intended to insult, they should not have insulted. If
they were intended to point out a point, they should have done so. I
have no problem whatsoever with primadonnas. My problems in free
software, if any, are not with primadonass, but with defective
software. KDE developers turned into primadonnas but that, per se, was
no problem for me. I just switched from using KDE to using Gnome. When
Gnome3 developers turned into primadonnas, I in turn pirouetted to
LXDE. As long as there is a place to run to, I have nothing against
primadonnas. Not just personally, even on a professional level: they
should be entitled to developing their own projects the way they see
fit. Nobody, and I say nobody (except their bosses if they have any)
should tell them what to do and how. I would even go as far as
paraphrasing Voltaire: "I don't agree with the software you're
developing, but I'll do anything to defend your right to develop it."
On the other hand, I as a user am entitled to dump their products and
search for alternatives any time I see fit.
We hope that systemd will improve. Business-types seem to like the
stuff it provides. But it's going to take major re-design to make it
reliable. As engineers, we wanted systemd to go through that re-design
in experimental distros, not in mainstream distros.
As a user, there's only a minor note I would add: let business types
have their stuff. But let us, more minimalist users, have ours: lean,
wieldy, fast systems which can fly even on a yesteryear's computer. In
the long run, I don't believe these two opposing trends can be
reconciled. In all probability, the Linux ecosystem will gradually
"split" into two branches: on the one hand glossy Windows/Mac-like
systems entangled with huge agglomerates such as systemd/KDE/Gnome, on
the other hand stripped-down environments intended for embedded
systems, servers and essentialist CLI users who occasionally startx a
lightweight window manager.
It would warm my heart if, five years from now, I could see Debian
still catering to both those branches, just as it has done to this day
(various kernels, several architectures, a myriad of window managers
etc etc.), and continuing to give life to a mind-boggling undergrowth
of blends, derivatives, projects, specialized distros ...
The way I understand what happened with Fedora, management at RedHat
decided that they weren't willing to be patient enough for systemd to
happen in an experimental distribution.
Similar things have happened and will happen in the future. I don't
think Debian has anything to fear, really. Debian is a point of
reference. People look up to it. It is huge -- more than we are aware.
People wait for Debian to make decisions before they make their own. It
has lead the ecosystem, or a large part thereof, at times without even
realizing it. Not at all by being loud -- but being stable, wise,
rational and passionate. Not only by delivering arguably the most
reliable distribution software-wise, but also by cultivating arguably
the best community developer- and user-wise. I would love to see Debian
take that lead again, and refuse being bullied by anyone.
Sorry for the wall of rambling text.
--
Kinda regards,
my beast washes
Klistvud
http://bufferoverflow.tiddlyspot.com
Certifiable Loonix Oozer #481801 Please reply to the list, not to
me.
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