Date: 31 Jul 1997 22:54:37 +0200 From: Peter Mutsaers <plm@xs4all.nl> To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: core group topics Message-ID: <87204fndrm.fsf@plm.xs4all.nl> In-Reply-To: TLiddelow@cybec.com.au's message of Thu, 31 Jul 1997 18:00:16 %2B1000 References: <87pvrzvto5.fsf@totally-fudged-out-message-id>
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>> On Thu, 31 Jul 1997 18:00:16 +1000, TLiddelow@cybec.com.au (Tim
>> Liddelow) said:
TL> Jordan K. Hubbard wrote:
>>
>> Erm, "none excepting inertia and fear of chaos, confusion, shock and
>> increased entropy all around." :) Inflicting another ABI on our user
>> base, one which will result in a new class of packages which all older
>> FreeBSD releases cannot run, is NOT something to be considered
>> lightly.
>>
>> Jordan
TL> It doesn't have to be _that_ hard. The Linux camp did the dual ABI
TL> thing for quite a while. Sure - the transition wasn't all beer and
TL> skittles but they did it. And they're reaping the rewards (see
TL> previous postings) for it.
I agree completely. I was using Linux at the time that ELF first
appeared there. I fetched the ELF packages and libraries and converted
my system slowly myself.
It was pretty painless, for anyone who knows a little bit about Unix
and who has some common sense.
There was some upset about this switch in the Linux camp, but only
because:
- there are many clueless Linux users (much more than freebsd users)
AND
- Linux doesn't come in one single consistent distrubution.
This combination (clueless users trying to install software themselves
without a clear ports mechanism etc.) was pretty tough for many; note
that this switch occurred even before the somewhat better
distributions such as Debian or Red Hat existed. Most users at that
time were still assembling their Linux systems by themselves.
FreeBSD users will have much less troubles with a transition to ELF as
the Linux camp had because
1. Either FreeBSD users are more knowledgeble
and/or
2. FreeBSD comes better packaged. Users don't go out and fetch
packages from many sites and install them by themselves. Instead,
they have the single and consistent base distribution, and add
packages via the ports.
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