Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:35:26 -0600 From: Ryan Sommers <ryans@gamersimpact.com> To: Peter Ross <Peter.Ross@alumni.tu-berlin.de> Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: The case for FreeBSD Message-ID: <420ABA5E.9090307@gamersimpact.com> In-Reply-To: <11888.203.220.51.162.1107997737.squirrel@mailbox.TU-Berlin.DE> References: <opslvtr8ng9aq2h7@mezz.mezzweb.com> <20050208145219.491D143D39@mx1.FreeBSD.org> <11935.203.51.156.53.1107878311.squirrel@mailbox.TU-Berlin.DE> <200502082246.10596.mark.rowlands@mypost.se> <11888.203.220.51.162.1107997737.squirrel@mailbox.TU-Berlin.DE>
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Peter Ross wrote:
> I would suggest to add a desktop option at the end of the installation
> ("Do you want to configure this machine as a desktop?") and then offer the
> package above and OpenOffice (including a language option)
>
What if instead of making it an option on the main FreeBSD distribution
we leave that to groups like FreeBSDIE. I know Scott touched on this
awhile ago; I really liked the idea. I think it would be great for
FreeBSD to work with groups like this in making the main FreeBSD code
more receptive to these niche releases. If one group wants to maintain a
"desktop" or "live CD" release, try and incorporate the ability to do so
in the tree. Most of this would not even effect things like performance
or interfere with others. I imagine it would come down to a lot of
Makefile Magic and just giving the user a different set of choices on
disc1.
Instead of trying to cater FreeBSD to every different type of user, make
it easy to be catered by other developers. I think a large part of this
could be filled by a new installer with well documented methods to
change the default distribution. It's an area I really want to work on,
but being that I've been in transition between jobs for awhile, I
haven't had enough free time to do much more than make some notes.
I think it'd be amazing if we had All-In-One disks. For instance, a
single CD designed to install a FreeBSD email server, or a Small
Business Release, containing things like email server, DNS,
file-sharing, web server. Put these on individual CDs that make it super
easy to download and install. The only real difference in all of these
is what packages get installed, nothing beyond that. I don't know if
I've seen any Linux distributions do this (though I don't stay in touch
with Linux development).
However, I DON'T think it should be the job of the @freebsd.org
developers to maintain this assortment. I believe it would be better
handled by individual groups. A certain amount of core support in the
main distribution could be provided to make everyone's lives easier, but
I don't imagine that being much beyond where we all hope the project is
going.
--
Ryan Sommers
ryans@gamersimpact.com
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