From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 23 16:47:45 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 29CDC16A4CE; Thu, 23 Dec 2004 16:47:45 +0000 (GMT) Received: from pooker.samsco.org (pooker.samsco.org [168.103.85.57]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 62D0F43D31; Thu, 23 Dec 2004 16:47:44 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from scottl@freebsd.org) Received: from [192.168.254.11] (junior-wifi.samsco.home [192.168.254.11]) (authenticated bits=0) by pooker.samsco.org (8.12.11/8.12.10) with ESMTP id iBNGpEPF089509; Thu, 23 Dec 2004 09:51:14 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from scottl@freebsd.org) Message-ID: <41CAF660.6050000@freebsd.org> Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2004 09:46:24 -0700 From: Scott Long User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040929 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Sam References: <20041223112731.GA32750@ninja.terrabionic.com> <20041223133440.GC786@myrddin.originative.co.uk> In-Reply-To: X-Enigmail-Version: 0.86.1.0 X-Enigmail-Supports: pgp-inline, pgp-mime Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.0 required=3.8 tests=none autolearn=no version=2.63 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on pooker.samsco.org cc: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org cc: Daniel Blendea cc: freebsd-www@freebsd.org cc: jsha cc: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org cc: Paul Richards Subject: Re: FreeBSD's Visual Identity: Outdated? X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2004 16:47:45 -0000 Sam wrote: >> If we want to be taken seriously in the commercial world then we >> need to have the right image. > > > Look ma, a strawman! > > The concern you're addressing is the sort of thing distros > solved in the Linux world. Each typically has their own > "image," installer, system config style, etc. More importantly > for the "commercial world," though, they offer support and > certification. > > The image alone just isn't the problem. Or a problem at all, > I'd argue. Let's be honest -- if a ten-year-old made Beastie, > then a mentally challenged 3-year-old made Tux (and large > portions of the kernel, but I digress). > > Point being Johann, if the community rejects your work > for the core project you can still make your own distro > and release it. Give it a shot! > > Cheers, > > Sam The distro - vs - core release relationship is one of BSD's greatest strengths and weaknesses. It's a strength because there is no 'distro hell' like there is in linux. When you download FreeBSD, you get the same FreeBSD as everyone else; there is no confusion over how the config files are layed out, no differences in the base utilities, everything compiles the same way, etc. That is a huge benefit. But at the same time, it makes it really hard for people to branch out and experiment in the same way that a linux distro can. FreeSBIE is a good example of this happening and working, but it definitely has hurdles. Variety and competition makes the whole stronger, and at times FreeBSD seems a bit in-bred. To address this, I'm playing with ideas for changing the nature of a FreeBSD 'release' a bit to make it easier for outfits like FreeSBIE to build on top of it. Hopefully I'll have something to show for this in 6.0. Scott