Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:18:12 +0100 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: Ian Smith <smithi@nimnet.asn.au> Cc: Manolis Kiagias <sonicy@otenet.gr>, Nicky Chorley <nick.chorley@gmail.com>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 8.0 installation doesn't contain X distributions 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>
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On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:47:08 +1100 (EST), Ian Smith <smithi@nimnet.asn.au> wrote: > In freebsd-questions Digest, Vol 287, Issue 16, Message: 8 > On Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:39:08 +0200 Manolis Kiagias <sonicy@otenet.gr> 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, ...
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