Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 11:58:59 +0200 From: Neil Blakey-Milner <nbm@mithrandr.moria.org> To: Radu-Cristian FOTESCU <rfotescu@idsrom.com> Cc: "'freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.org'" <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: FW: What to tell to Linux-centric people?! Message-ID: <19990726115859.A67323@rucus.ru.ac.za> In-Reply-To: <C1F3617BDC52D21185E40000214C247C15405D@id-bucharest.idsrom.com>; from Radu-Cristian FOTESCU on Mon, Jul 26, 1999 at 12:43:54PM %2B0300 References: <C1F3617BDC52D21185E40000214C247C15405D@id-bucharest.idsrom.com>
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On Mon 1999-07-26 (12:43), Radu-Cristian FOTESCU wrote: > > There is a incorrect perception that the ports and package system > > is substandard, probably based on the lack of quality GUI package > > management systems. This is probably the cause of the "but, the thing > > doesn't even come with bash!!!!!!!" (color-ls, &c.) argument. > > Not "substandard", but not up-to-date! I assume you're referring to the actual versions of the software in the ports collection. This is a very DIY project. If you notice a problem, and noone else is doing it, if you have time and you know how to fix it, you fix it. If you don't know how to fix it, and you have time, you learn how to fix it. If you don't have time, you should probably mail (in this example) ports@freebsd.org and declare you don't have time, and you've noticed that version 2.x.y is out, and we only have 2.x.y-1, and then try motivate why it is in our interest to get 2.x.y. If it's more of a bug than a version difference, fix it or submit a PR describing the problem in full. If your "up-to-date" has to do with the inclusion of sh and csh, and exclusion of bash, tcsh, zsh, ksh, &c. in the base system, you haven't quite got to grips as to the concepts of "world". bash is not an integral part of the system, and the system can survive without it. sh is an integral part of the system, and the system could not survive without it. gcc is not necessarily an integral part of the system, but the system could not recreate itself without it. vacation (or any of the games except fortune) is not necessarily an integral part of the system, and the system could survive and recreate itself without it, but they've been distributed with it before, and it'd be hard to remove them without problems. I think the last example should start a few sparks as to why it's hard to put something into the base system that strictly isn't required. It should be obvious the tree would become more and more bloated with minimal increase in functionality. Bit rot tends to set in really easily in such a situation. Neil -- Neil Blakey-Milner nbm@rucus.ru.ac.za To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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