> On 5/31/07, Darren J Moffat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> Before we go too far down the track of creating a "so called" reference
>> binary distribution of OpenSolaris I think we need to first clearly for
>> the whole community document exactly what problem we are trying to solve.
>><snip>
>
> Two reasons in my view:
>
> 1. We need a better answer to the question, "What is OpenSolaris?" Ideally,
> it's something tangible, i.e., something people can download and install.
Excellent. This seems to be what Solaris Nevada is with the exception
of being built behind Sun firewalls. It should not take too much work
to take snv outside entirely. I'm merely thinking out loud here.
> The current "OpenSolaris is just the source code, like kernel.org,
I hate to be the one to say this but Linux is the kernel. Now that I
feel like an idiot for saying that ( to you of all people ) I must
now quickly say that the JDS/Vermillion bits far outweigh the ON
bits. The GNU + all open source software packages at Blastwave
outweigh both of them combined by an order of magnitude.
The trick I think is to have a reference distro that allows a new
user to have access to everything in the palm of their hand but
without all the confusion. Also, we need to carry the legacy Solaris
users forward without any more loss in the herd.
Again .. just thinking out loud here.
> and Sun
> and others take that code and make operating systems out of it" is
> confusing.. Bottom line, the market thinks OpenSolaris is an
> operating system ("OpenSolaris is the community version of Solaris..
> Right?"). I consider this a big part of the "familiarity gap".
From twenty thousand feet up .. its a good place to start.
The blades of grass down here are a real issue to deal with however.
Quickly. We don't need a two year process.
> 2. With all the negative opinions about Linux around here, I'm surprised
> to have to say this, but: Multiple distributions without a reference for
> compatibility is *not* a feature of Linux we want to emulate! I know, I've
> spent the better part of the last 5 years trying to clean up the mess,
> with mixed results. It's far easier to create an ecosystem of compatible
> implementations if you *start* with a reference. All attempts at
> building a reference after the fact in Linux have been an abject failure.
That has been an item of some discussion in various off-line places.
No argument there.
Dennis
_______________________________________________
opensolaris-discuss mailing list
[email protected]
