Just butting in here a bit but this discussion has got me somewhat worried. This will probably ramble a bit... but at least that will fit right in in this discussion... hehe.
I probably represent about the lowest level of gentoo user so I thought maybe it would be good to speak up a bit here. Its hard to get a handle on what you all are really talking about. I mean the behind the scenes build up that must have gone on was totally invisible to people like me. I started hearing and seeing comments and such on this list about 1 or maybe 2 mnths ago now, indicating some underlying trouble but I'm not getting a clear picture here of what that trouble is. I am a long time linux user and have used gentoo for probably 3 yrs or so. I've never contributed a single bit of code or contributed in any other way than asking lots of question here... and answering a few I guess but the ratio wouldn't look so good for me. I've added a very small number of bug reports at one time or another. I like gentoo a lot... and have finally gotten at least slightly competent in using/installing/trouble shooting and etc.... I'd hate to switch to something else. The complex setup of use flags and profiles is very versatile and eventually people like me start to catch on. With the counter balance of the various /etc/portage/package.** files, there are infinite ways to control ones setup. >From this discussion I am unable to get an idea what might be coming in the next few mnths. I'd like to help in some way... but hard to think of anyway that I could realistically contribute. I've used linux pretty exclusively as my main desktop since mid to late 90s, experimented with freebsd and openbsd a bit. The gentoo community... at least the discussion lists is about the best I've been involved in. I guess what I'm getting at here is wondering what the collection of lowlevel users can really do to help the apparent breakdown of direction. I can write basic perl and shell script a bit. But so basic as to seem pretty useless compared to the kind of talent available here. I guess I feel kind of helpless about the possibility of gentoo breaking down and kind of fading on off into oblivion. Can some of you `in the know' folks layout what the problems seem to be especially some concrete ways interested parties could have some impact on the situation. -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
