From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 10 09:18:18 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B937D106568D for ; Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:18:18 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 734F98FC08 for ; Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:18:18 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-195-228-22.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.228.22]) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0639B3CF6A; Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:18:16 +0100 (CET) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id nBA9IFY5005916; Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:18:15 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:18:12 +0100 From: Polytropon To: Ian Smith Message-Id: <20091210101812.63806e1c.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20091210185602.T12012@sola.nimnet.asn.au> References: <20091206102227.7C3BA10656F0@hub.freebsd.org> <20091210185602.T12012@sola.nimnet.asn.au> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Manolis Kiagias , Nicky Chorley , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 8.0 installation doesn't contain X distributions X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:18:18 -0000 On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:47:08 +1100 (EST), Ian Smith wrote: > In freebsd-questions Digest, Vol 287, Issue 16, Message: 8 > On Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:39:08 +0200 Manolis Kiagias wrote: > > Removing X from the distributions is a right step IMO, these are just > > 3rd party packages and it seems confusing if they get installed along > > with the base system. > > I think this is taking base-system-only installation purity to excess. Imagine the following situation: A user wants to run Linux applications on FreeBSD. He selects the Linux ABI service for startup via sysinstall. The corresponding _enable setting will be added to rc.conf, and - surprise! - a package will be installed. The same thing happens when a user installs X. Of course, X is not part of the base system, but in the same way that sysinstall (down)loads and installs packages when a specific service is selected, it should act the same way for X. I know that X has become a problematic and very complex thing, not just a few packages (as it was in the past with XFree86). X should be installabe in a manner made easy, just like the Linux ABI. > In the case of X, > you and I, developers and most people here know to hunt for the Xorg > meta-port. The average user intending to run a desktop system won't be happy with compiling stuff... > But the naive or new installer knows of no such thing, and > could beat around in the huge lists of X software for ages, wondering > what's required and what's not to get a desktop going. Therefore, I always liked the choice for X in sysinstall: It basically installed all the components to get X up and running. No big trouble getting the correct xorg-driver-* packages, installing and removing them, the xorg-input-* packages with the same story... -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...