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Aron Griffis wrote: |
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> In my humble opinion, Gentoo is missing too many points to be an |
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> enterprise Linux. We commit to a live tree. We don't have true QA, |
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> testing or tinderbox. We don't have paid staff, alpha/beta/rc cycles. |
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> We don't really have product lifecycles, since we don't generally |
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> backport fixes to older versions, requiring instead for people to |
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> update to a more recent release. We don't have, and probably will |
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> never be able to offer, support contracts. We support as wide a range |
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> of hardware as the upstream kernel, plus hardware that requires |
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> external drivers; we don't have access to a great deal of the hardware |
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> for which we provide drivers. We understand when real life gets in |
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> the way of bug-fixing, because all our developers are volunteers. |
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Using your list there would be two types of enterprise 'requirements': |
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process requirements and support requirements. |
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Improving and working towards the process requirements (sane commits, |
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better QA, etc.) doesn't mean that Gentoo would have to be any less fun. |
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And just because the Gentoo Foundation isn't in a position to provide |
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the support requirements (paid staff, support contracts, etc.) doesn't |
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mean that someone else couldn't provide those (or that Gentoo would make |
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it particularly hard to do so). |
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> Also I find it amusing when people say that Gentoo exists for the |
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> users. I think that is wrong. Gentoo exists for the *developers*. |
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> It's our playground, and it's the reason we use a live tree rather |
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> than switching to an actually sane approach. The users are cool |
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> because they point out bugs, help solve problems on bugzilla, suggest |
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> enhancements, provide patches, and notify us of package updates. |
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> Sometimes they become developers. But the truth is that Gentoo sees |
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> improvement and maintenance in the areas that appeal to the |
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> developers. And that is why Gentoo exists for the developers first, |
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> the users second. |
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I would suggest that: |
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1) this is a pretty common belief in any software developement project, |
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commercial, community led, or otherwise |
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2) its a bit wrong headed for various reasons, IMHO (see below) |
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and |
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3) I personally find it amusing. ;) |
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What developers seem to forget, is that they too are end-users. For |
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instance, a particular developer's responsibilities may be Baselayout, |
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Epm, Gentoo/Alpha, Gentoo/IA64, Keychain, Mozilla, Mutt, Vim, and such. |
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That makes him/her an end-user for everything else thats installed on |
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their system. In other words, developers are just a subset of the user base. |
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Secondly, polishing things for developer's sake doesn't preclude |
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polishing things for user's sake, and visa-versa. |
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So if it were up to me, it would be users first , which would encompass |
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everyone, including the developers! |
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Nathan |
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