First off, I'll agree that the management structure document itself is rather
buried. I found it (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/management-structure.xml)
because I knew it was assigned a GLEP (http://glep.gentoo.org), but that
wouldn't be real obvious to someone new to the project.
That said Sergey, I'm confused because I'm still not sure what you want out of
this distro.
What are your reasons for looking for an alternative to Debian?
I think its important to judge any project on what they present themselves to
stand for. Lets compare.
"Debian was begun in August 1993 by Ian Murdock, as a new distribution which
would be made openly, in the spirit of Linux and GNU. Debian was meant to be
carefully and conscientiously put together, and to be maintained and
supported with similar care."
-- http://www.debian.org/intro/about
"We produce Gentoo Linux, a special flavor of Linux that can be automatically
optimized and customized for just about any application or need. Extreme
performance, configurability and a top-notch user and developer community are
all hallmarks of the Gentoo experience. "
-- http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/about.xml
"The Gentoo philosophy, in a paragraph, is this. Every user has work they need
to do. The goal of Gentoo is to design tools and systems that allow a user to
do their work pleasantly and efficiently as possible, as they see fit."
-- http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/philosophy.xml
On Wednesday 19 November 2003 04:58 pm, Sergey V. Spiridonov wrote:
> A lot of users tend to ignore GNU philosophy and interpret _free_
> software as in "free beer", not as in freedom.
The philosophy link on the website makes it quite clear that Gentoo is about
"getting things done". It calls for neither the crushing of the prolitariat
nor a strict mindless adherance to the word of God Emperor Richard M
Stallman. It states (in italics even): "The most fundamental issue is
designing a technology that allows us and others to do what they want to do,
without restriction." That sounds like the definition of "free as in
freedom" to me.
To me, Gentoo is about giving you the tools to build it your way. Gentoo is
about getting work done, the way you like getting it done.
The social contract says "Gentoo Linux is and will remain Free Software".
That may be "free as in beer" but that was put there as a reassurance that
there is not an intention to cut and run. But even more important than the
social contract is the fact that all the code is GPL'd. If Daniel wants to
go commercial, fine. There will be a fork and we'll continue on.
The management structure for Debian has a "carefully organized structure".
Both Gentoo's management structure and tools have evolved organically as they
have needed to. In fact the whole Gentoo portage system is a more organic
approach. New ebuilds are introduced into the system when someone needs a
package, and die when no one cares. There are no formal releases, just an
ever changing, improving system. The users and developers are used to this.
Users don't know (or care) what the procedures are to change the social
contract is because they haven't had to worry about it!
If the "centrally planned" way is really important to you, stick with Debian.
But if you're willing to help evolve Gentoo, download the ISOs and give it a
try. If it works for you, great! Welcome aboard! Please remember however
that Gentoo is a project, not a movement.
--
Ben Maas - Technology Architect
Open Technology Systems, LLC
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