On Fri, Jan 13, 2006 at 09:19:10AM -0800, T. Joseph CARTER wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 12, 2006 at 11:34:40PM -0800, Jacob Meuser wrote:
> > > I wasn't at all surprised by the result.  As I was answering the 
> > > questions,
> > > it occurred to me that I was biasing the outcome by choosing the
> > > characteristics of the distribution I'm already using.
> > 
> > I tried it, since I don't currently really use Linux.
> > 
> > gave me 6 "perfect matches":
> > 
> > ubuntu
> > mandriva
> > suse
> > debian
> > fedora
> > kubuntu
> 
> You chose the same options I did then with an "I don't care" about package
> managers.  =)  In order to choose the anything-but-rpm path, you have to
> select that and then discount the RPM dists.  That leaves the Ubuntus and
> Debian.

yes, I generally chose "don't care as long as it works"

> Apparently the Linux world is committed to the RPM, save for Debian and
> its derivatives--of which only Knoppixlikes and Ubuntu actually matter.
> 
> Gentoo and Slackware don't count for the push to the desktop, and people
> with lots of machines to maintain are going to respond "yeah right" to the
> extra overhead on top of their current duties.

rsync and such can work for binaries too, so keeping multiple machines
"up2date" is rather simple, actually.  one build, multiple clones.

> 
> > hmmm, actually, I would probably use gentoo or slack if I "had to"
> > use Linux.
> > 
> > I definitely _would not_ use ubuntu or mandriva.
> 
> You're a BSD user.  Masochism is a fact of life.  Read email.  Read
> security websites 1-74.  Read security newsgroups.  Read security email
> that just arrived.  Laugh at Windows vulnerabilities.  Read email again.
> See rumor of exploit for some server you run.  Investigate rumor.  Read
> security websites.  #47 has reported a vulnerability.  Two hours later #26
> has a patch, but #66 doesn't know for sure that it fixes the problem.  #30
> issues a revised patch that does two hours after that.  Meanwhile you've
> been spinning your wheels all day waiting for the patch.  Now you can
> apply it, recompile, test it, deploy it, and return to the cycle.  At the
> end of the day you can still make fun of Windows admins who have to be
> stuck with unpatched vulnerabilities for weeks at a time, but they at
> least got some work done today.  So you go home bitter and angry and
> declare that software sucks, human beings suck, and you're going to go
> play nethack, and you wonder whether or not you can turn off your mobile
> for a few hours to be off the grid while you do.
> 
> It involves placing a lot of trust and control in the hands of another,
> but a distribution like Ubuntu allows someone ELSE to become disgruntled
> trying to manage most of this stuff.  I just set up scripts to scan for
> vulnerabilities in my NAT router (since it's the front door to my LAN) and
> for essentials: ssh, postfix, and apache.  These are big enough that I
> need only scan a few websites, and I can do it with a small python script.
> I have a life outside of being a server monkey, and even if I didn't,
> server monkeying is annoyingly tedious IMO.

amusing, but rather ficticious.

I am an OpenBSD user.  my servers are chrooted and privilege separated
"out of the box".  I get OpenSSH security patches before most anyone
else, since, well, it's part of the OpenBSD project.  my malloc()
allocates memory randomly.  those kiddies trying the latest "root
kit" will have a hard time of it.

my LAN is behind an SGI O2 r10k running OpenBSD -current ...

plus, I choose to be one of those "someone ELSE [who gets] to become
disgruntled trying to manage most of this stuff".

I get my news from ICB, and I've only played nethack maybe 2 minutes,
once.

all software sucks, some just sucks less.

-- 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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