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I can't speak for Daniel Robbins, but here are some of |
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my own observations: |
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|
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> When was the project started (was the plan always to |
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> create a distribution)? |
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|
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You can read about the early history of Gentoo, to some |
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extent, in the "Making the distribution" articles listed |
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in the articles section of gentoo.org. |
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|
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> When did the project reach critical mass? |
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|
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In early 2001 I knew every developer's nick in #gentoo. |
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Even then, however, the distribution had already reached |
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a critical stage -- it was sufficiently advanced and well- |
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designed that it could have survived even if Daniel Robbins |
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had decided he was tired of it (which, of course, did not |
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happen). |
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|
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The explosion in popularity occurred about the time we |
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released 1.0, but I don't remember exactly when that was. |
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|
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> The site plainly states that Gentoo is for the |
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> experienced user, as Gentoo matures are there plans to |
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> make it more accessible to a broader range of user |
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> experience levels? |
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|
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There are people working on a gui installer (including |
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the folks at www.latinux.com.ve), but Gentoo will always |
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offer a manual install option. We are actively working |
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on making quality control more of a priority, which |
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should make the distribution more accessible. That |
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said, we will _not_ sacrifice Gentoo's flexibility for |
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accessibility. Many users have described Gentoo as |
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"maintainable LFS", where the user has control over |
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essentially everything, which is precisely where we |
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want to be. |
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|
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> Through daily operations I've noticed a hands off |
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> approach to package and or system script |
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> configurations, a number of standards across other |
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> distributions are left at default. I started to |
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> notice this, even during my install when I added a |
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> user and noticed that his home path wasn't even |
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> defined, when delving further I discovered that almost |
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> everything related to this function was left at |
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> default as is much of the system after the install. |
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> Will this approach remain into the future? |
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|
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One of these days somebody will add a decent adduser |
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script to Gentoo Linux. I keep meaning to hack the |
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openbsd script to work with Gentoo, but I never seem |
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to get around to it. |
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|
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To answer the question you asked, we do prefer to |
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leave configuration up to the user, although we |
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generally do also make sure that packages have a |
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sane default configuration. |
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|
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> How large is your core team, and active developer |
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> base. (is it larger than listed on the sites |
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> developers page)? |
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|
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The developer page is actively maintained, so it |
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should be up-to-date. |
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|
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> Lately it seems that distributions come and go, a few |
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> that come to mind are (Sorcerer, Storm, Corel) how |
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> strong is Gentoo's current position, and developer |
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> support? |
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|
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I think it's pretty good. More importantly, though, |
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all of Gentoo is GPL, so even if all the current developers |
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decided to go elsewhere the distribution could survive. |
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Additionally, no other distribution has the flexibility |
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of Gentoo Linux, so I think it's unlikely that Gentoo will |
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become "just another distribution" anytime soon. |
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|
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> Are there any plans to simplify the installation |
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> process? |
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|
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See above. It's not a high priority for us right now, |
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however. Also, the current install method will always |
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be available. |
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|
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> I've been lurking in #gentoo for what must be a year |
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> now, logging conversations for useful install info, |
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> and watching devel/user interactions. I've noticed |
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> that developer accessiblity and the number of |
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> experienced users in channel has dropped, although |
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> theres also been the creation of a forum onsite, and a |
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> number of new channels on OPN. What is the reason for |
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> this shift (maturation of the dist and less demand for |
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> support, fervored development leaving less time for |
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> user interaction, a change in support venue etc.. )? |
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|
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Um, information overload? As I write this reply there |
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are 268 users in #gentoo. Gentoo information is now |
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spread across #gentoo, the forums, the mailing lists, |
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and bugs.gentoo.org. I make a serious effort to monitor |
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the mailing lists and bugs.gentoo.org, and that's often more |
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than I can really manage on a daily basis. I know there |
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are developers who can only keep up with bugs.gentoo.org, |
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which is why we so strongly urge that when people find |
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problems they report them there. |
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|
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Okay, I need to get back to work. I hope some of this helps. |
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|
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-g2boojum- |
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