[ale] Distro Question -- State of the Linux Nation

Jason Day jasonday at worldnet.att.net
Tue Feb 24 20:48:41 EST 2004


On Tue, Feb 24, 2004 at 02:19:16PM -0500, Eric VanWieren wrote:
> addition, I am not hip on programs like apt-get and the FBSD ports 
> system. I prefer to know what I am installing not just telling it to 
> install and the program installing all sorts of dependencies that I 
> would otherwise not know about.

Aot-get won't install "all sorts of dependencies" unless you tell it to,
and even then it will tell you what it installs.  "apt-get -u upgrade"
will report what packages need updating, and will wait for you to
confirm.  "apt-get install foo" will also ask for confirmation before it
installs any necessary dependencies besides foo, and it will tell you
what the dependencies are.

I've never used ports, but Gentoo's portage is supposed to be similar.
And, like APT, it *can* install all the dependencies automatically, but
most people use "emerge -p whatever" to see what it's going to install
first.

> My question for you is, has anyone else felt the same way about the 
> state of the linux world? That most of the larger distros have gotten 
> away from their roots, and are now moving on to please the masses?

Yes.  I don't really think this is a bad thing in general; more users is
good.  There is always a choice for people who like the old way better.
I recently stopped using GNOME because I despise GNOME2.  If I wanted an
interface that looked like windows, I would use windows.  Fortunately, I
have a choice.

RedHat, just like any company, needs to make money.  If pleasing the
masses makes them more money, then they will (and should, IMHO) do so.
But there will always be Debian, or Slack, or Gentoo, or something else
that will please the geek, not necessarily the masses.

And if not, you can always roll your own...
-- 
Jason Day                                       jasonday at
http://jasonday.home.att.net                    worldnet dot att dot net
 
"Of course I'm paranoid, everyone is trying to kill me."
    -- Weyoun-6, Star Trek: Deep Space 9



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