I don't think any of the discussions about an installer included the idea of mandatory use (discussions on gentoo-user and gentoo-dev). I don't think any developer would get behind the idea of replacing current Gentoo installation; it merely is about offering a different choice to the end-user. Gentoo is all about the freedom to choose. Want openrc? Go for it. Want systemd? Go for it. Want to compile everything? Go for it. Want to use pre-built binaries? Go for it. Then why not add installation to this philosophy? In my opinion, it doesn't detract at all from the core of what Gentoo stands for. Automated installation and reproducible builds offer additional choices and, if implemented, should not replace traditional installation. Users should be able to choose their system, as always. With that said, this discussion got sidetracked from the original public relations/outreach focus :)
J. Rutkowski On Fri, Jul 24, 2015, at 02:55 PM, Terry Z. wrote: > Honestly I would hate to see an installer become necessary. Other > distros do not have issues with minimalistic or no installer causing > user acquisition issues. > > What would be nice to see is the current minimal installer updated to > support modern hardware (I believe some recent adjustments were made > to that though so it may be a moot point.) > > On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 3:15 PM, Dale <[email protected]> wrote: >> Volker Armin Hemmann wrote: >> > Am 24.07.2015 um 14:56 schrieb James: >> >> Rich Freeman <rich0 <at> gentoo.org> writes: >> >> >> >>> Just be practical. From my experience showing up at a LUG and >>> telling 20 >> >>> people how something worked well for you gets you a lot further than >> >>> handing out free T-shirts and hats at a booth. >> >> Rich, I'll be practical. Gentoo needs an installer program, like most >> >> other distros if you want your rank_n_file users to entice new users. >> > nope. >> > >> > Gentoo does not need an 'installer'. We have way too many people not >> > being able to read simple instructions already or spending 5minutes on >> > google&thinking for themselves. Just look at this mailing list. We >> > really don't need more of them. >> > >> > >> > >> > >> >> >> I have to add, back when they tried the installer before, I >> never got it >> to work. Anytime I did a install, I did it the current way, by hand >> following the docs. At the end, I had a fully bootable system with a >> handmade kernel and carried on with my install. Not once did that >> installer work. My hardware at the time was not super old but old >> enough to be well supported. Everything worked once I did the install >> the old fashioned way. >> >> I might add, installing Gentoo teaches a lot to a new person. I can >> install Madriva or whatever it is called now in less than a hour but I >> have very little information on how to fix something or correct a setup >> problem. Having a installer may give someone a reason to beat on their >> chest and say we have a installer but it really does little else. >> >> Just my opinion on the topic. >> >> Dale >> >> :-) :-) >> > > > > -- > The irony is that Bill Gates claims to be making a stable operating > system and Linus Torvalds claims to be trying to take over the world. > -- seen on the net
