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On 2004-09-30 20:12:07 -0400 Athul Acharya <aacharya@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> Now perhaps it may be prudent to suggest that a line about emerging |
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> dhcpcd go in the installation guides alongside the section about |
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> installing syslog etc. But there remains no reason for it to be in the |
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> system profile. |
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Yes, this would be quite prudent. |
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However, let me offer another way of looking at this. Gentoo is a |
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OS/"metadistribution" of Linux, as well as the name that encompasses |
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its tools (portage; Gentoo on MacOSX, etc etc). On systems where, for |
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most intents and purposes, Gentoo is the OS (i.e. running on top of |
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Linux, Hurd, whatever), Gentoo should make all attempts to be a usable |
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OS _by default_. |
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|
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When a users goes through the handbook, and install, Gentoo, maybe a |
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note about DHCP support should be in there, but more to the point, |
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maybe an entire page or section should be placed before the USE flags |
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page, that describes the extent a user could conceivably alter the |
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default layout. |
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|
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Now, the default layout cannot, imho, be solely "additive" in |
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features. If this where the case, we need to remove /bin/login (in |
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pam-login), and all /sbin/agetty (in util-linux), as I may be building |
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for a completly headless server, or something like that. |
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It's reasonable to say "Well, a user can simply emerge dhcpcd", but it |
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is as reasonable to say "a user can simply remove dhcpd from _their_ |
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profile". |
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If a normal Gentoo/Linux install is going to be usable it _has_ to |
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contain "normal" OS tools. DHCP, even if you do not use it, is one of |
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these tools. Many, many people use this. Same with /sbin/ifconfig |
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itself (in net-tools) -- a user may not have a network connection _at |
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all_. |
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|
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This phenomenon is especially evident in make.defaults, in any |
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profile. Any one of us could name tens of use flags he or she turns |
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off in their own default profile, I'm sure. The point is: |
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they're_defaults_. They work for a great number of what people want, |
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so they're in there. If you are not one of those people, then follow |
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this methodology: |
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|
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if(feature_i_want->isDefault()) |
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echo "yay"; |
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else |
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feature_i_want->addToSystem(); |
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|
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if(feature_i_dislike->isDefault()) |
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echo "boooooo" |
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feature_i_dislike->removeFromSystem(); |
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else |
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echo "yay"; |
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The "system" here should be the supported default layout, any arch, |
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any anything, that reasonably supports the greatest numbers of users / |
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causes us the least headaches down the road when people complain about |
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missing features. The person who has to remove dhcpcd from their |
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default layout is less likely to have something important to complain |
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about than the person who cannot emerge dhcpcd because they have no |
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dhcp client to connect to a network with! |
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If Gentoo was a plant, it's simply one you should prune _and_ feed. |
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This should not be a concept that is difficult to understand. |
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__Armando |
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P.S. **sheesh** |
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-- |
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