Gentoo Archives: gentoo-dev

From: "Michael Weyershäuser" <thedude0001@×××.de>
To: gentoo-dev@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] Big change ideea
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:31:12
Message-Id: 45774331.6030000@gmx.de
In Reply to: [gentoo-dev] Big change ideea by Alexandru Mincu
1 Alexandru Mincu wrote:
2 > Hi all,
3 > I don't know if this has come up before so excuse me if I am repeating.
4 > I recently stumbled upon the following Linux distribution:
5 > http://www.gobolinux.org/
6 > They have an idea that Mac OS X implemented it when it first came out to
7 > be more user friendly.
8 > They are trying to remove the old UNIX file system scheme with the/bin
9 > /etc /usr /var, etc directories and are trying to implement a little
10 > more intuitive version of the file system hierarchy.
11 > I know the opinions on this are shared and some people like the old
12 > arrangement, but believe me I've seen lots of new users that come to
13 > Linux and don't understand a thing from the file system arrangement. I
14 > for one have learned this very well and I get used to it, but for the
15 > normal user things should be intuitive ...
16
17 I've heard about this layout in gobolinux, but I fail to see where this
18 makes life easier for the *user*. The old windows approach of "every
19 file that belongs to on application should be in that applications
20 folder" might make life easier for package managers (easier to clean
21 up), maybe for programmers (no need to worry where what file has to be
22 installed) and for users of an OS without a package manager to keep
23 track of files so they can be uninstalled cleanly. But I don't see any
24 advantage for an end user or system administrator.
25
26 Yes, if you come from windows the current scheme is pretty confusing
27 because you are not used to it. But once you've understood it it is way
28 better (at least in my opinion). Looking for a config file? Go look in
29 /etc. Looking for documentation? /usr/share/doc has all you need.
30 Binaries? /usr/bin is your place.
31
32 I don't think "learning Linux" is harder than learning to use any other
33 OS. The problem is that you have to "unlearn" what you took as an
34 absolute truth when you were only using Windows.
35
36 > The compatibility problem can be solved by creating links for each
37 > directory in the old scheme to a new one that contains links to
38 > programs,libs,etc each in their place.
39
40 So first we go through the hassle of moving every file to a different
41 location and then recreate links all over the place to be compatible? So
42 the only real advantage i could see (being able to cleanly "uninstall" a
43 program by deleting its folder) would be gone because if we did that we
44 have links all over the place, so we need to rely on a package manager
45 again for that. Once again I fail to see any advantage, at least any
46 advantage that is worth the effort.
47
48 > I think Gentoo has the power to give the user this choice, and since
49 > Gentoo it's all about choices I think the developers here can make this
50 > happen and make it well.
51 > I propose a new USE flag or any other option that portage supports and
52 > the modifications needed to install each program in it's directory and
53 > create the links to their places.
54
55 I don't think it would be that easy as you would have to mess around a
56 lot more.
57
58 > I want to ask the developer community if it is willing to put this in
59 > practice and give the Gentoo users another choice to make their Linux
60 > system the way they want it and like and understand it and not the way
61 > others do or did.
62
63
64 I'm not a dev, just a simple user, so I can't answer for them. But I can
65 say from my point that there are other areas where that kind of work
66 could be better invested and some real advantages be gained.

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