Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 11:18:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Jamie Bowden <ragnar@sysabend.org> To: Rajappa Iyer <rsi@panix.com> Cc: Jordan Hubbard <jkh@osd.bsdi.com>, tlambert@primenet.com, wmoran@iowna.com, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD Mall now BSDCentral Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10107101101350.67797-100000@moo.sysabend.org> In-Reply-To: <200107101757.f6AHvj916923@panix1.panix.com>
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On 10 Jul 2001, Rajappa Iyer wrote: :Jamie Bowden <ragnar@sysabend.org> writes: : :> On 10 Jul 2001, Rajappa Iyer wrote: : :> :One of the nice things I like about FreeBSD (and I daresay I'm not :> :alone in this) is that when I install it, I know that I'll get a :> :kernel with a corresponding full and functional userland. I see the :> :packaging of this `base system' as a bunch of (meta)packages as the :> :thin edge of the wedge---pretty soon FreeBSD will resemble the :> :hodge-podge collection of different (often conflicting) packages that :> :Linux is. :> :> Where as I see the ability to incrementally upgrade only the parts of the :> OS that have changed from release to release as I can do right now in :> Irix. : :Yes, I understand the argument, but fear that it's all too easy to get :into the kind of package mess that all Linux dists have. It would :require considerable amount of release engineering and testing to get :everything right. Do you really think it's worth expending that :amount of effort for an arguably minor improvement? I wouldn't call having that kind of improvement minor. For all inst/swmgr's warts, I can use it on a graphics or serial console with no problem. I can use it to do network installs of new machines or network upgrades on existing machines. Part of what makes it as usefull as it is is tied to the SGI Prom having network support built in, which most PC's lack (I'd say all, but someone, somewhere, would present a motherboard with onboard networking and a bios that had network support). This can be overcome with a minimal kernel (and even SGI goes this route with the miniroot). Is Irix the best Unix in the world? No, but there are some damn nice aspects to it, and it wouldn't hurt to emulate it where it shines. It will of course install from local CDROM or tape drive as well. One of Irix's shining features is its installation and package management systems, which are one and the same. You can load scripts from within it to automate with subsystems are installed (guaranteeing consistency of the machines you have to manage). Part of my default installation handles instified third party software, because I can. I could automate the process to the level of Solaris' Jumpstart if I chose, but don't have enough machines here to warrant that level of automation. And at anytime, I can remove a subsystem (like printing for example if I decide I don't need it) without manually digging through the OS directory tree and deleting bits (that something else may require that I wasn't aware of). Jamie Bowden -- "It was half way to Rivendell when the drugs began to take hold" Hunter S Tolkien "Fear and Loathing in Barad Dur" Iain Bowen <alaric@alaric.org.uk> To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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