On Thu, 2003-02-20 at 22:54, Theron William Stanford wrote: > <quote who="David Smith"> > > > The beauty is that it is very very easy to get your own kernel and > > compile. > > Uh, yeah, if I'm willing to capitulate to a distro, which takes away my freedom. > If I'm running RedHat, then it's "very very easy" to go get the latest *RedHat* > kernel, but not just "a kernel".
<reference source="American Idol"><quote source="Simon"> No offense, but </qoute></reference> I don't fully understand your definition of freedom, but it seems to be pretty wacked out and useless. Allowing another part to do integration and QA for you isn't capitulation. (Go build your own distro following the instructions at linuxfromscratch.org. If that still isn't good enough for you, consider all the people that help write software and consider how they're taking away your freedom. Dig a mine, build the necessary machinery, and program your hand-made computer with a needle and a magnet because you can't use a compiler someone else wrote.) Nothing stops you from switching kernels. It's not much harder to install a custom kernel than it is to install a RH kernel RPM. (Not so long ago it was easier because the kernel RPM sometimes messed up your lilo.conf) In fact, nothing stops you from customizing any part of the system you want to. > > As for freedom from a distro, you may find a new definition of > > freedom there, as you may end up without much support. > > No, not a *new* definition of freedom, the *original* definition of freedom. What definition of freedom are you using? Certainly not Freedom as outlined by RMS. > If I have trouble with my Linux system, what's usually the first question asked? > "What distro are you running?" If there were true freedom in the Linux > community, this question would *never* be asked. I should be able to explain > the problem in enough detail for it to be fixed without anyone needing to know > what distro I'm running. I should be able to find answers on the Internet > without mentioning a distro. You can. But because we are familiar with the details of distros and their releases, we can ask what distro are you running instead of: "which version of gcc, autoconf, automake, gmake, glibc, etc. are you using?" There's no way to escape versioning unless you discover a way to create feature complete, bug free software in one release. > If you all can't give support because, hey, it's not a distro any of you run -- > well, there's something wrong here. Sounds sorta like, "Sorry, can't help you, > you're running Windows." And what's wrong with that response? Walk up to a random Art major and ask them for help with your Linear Algebra homework. Does their lack of experience make anyone less free? Without specialization we'd get nowhere. Are you implying that this is only one "true way" to handle init scripts, etc? If so, that's sure doesn't sound like freedom. > Now, you all might mean freedom as in freedom from work, stress, etc. That was > never the original meaning of freedom in GNU, be it beer or speech. > > As long as my kernel is embossed RedHat or Mandrake or whatever, I am not free. > > Theron (in case you thought this was RMS) I still have to hope that you're joking or trying to pick a fight. If you want a flamewar, go somewhere else we don't need that here. I'm ignoring anything else you add to this thread. If you're for real, you sound like the kind of annoying person that makes the rest of us look bad. Recently introduced and out to prove that you're the purest of the pure. Do a favor, before you try to do any Linux evangelism, do some more learning. Until you can admit and understand that there are good reasons to use Windows (and even DOS), you're bound to say something stupid. If the other members of the list think I'm out of line, I bow to their collective wisdom and humbly ask their forgiveness. It's my personal opinion that anyone interested in learning should be helped. On the otherhand, an unendurable fool should be told he is in the hopes he will change. Course, the book of Proverbs teaches that a gentle word turneth away wrath and the sign of wisdom is silence. Sasha and Ed keep quiet most of the time, while I'm not afraid to go too far... Definetly something I need to work on. -- Stuart Jansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> #define FALSE 0 /* This is the naked Truth */ #define TRUE 1 /* and this is the Light */ -- mailto.c ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://phantom.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
