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John, |
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> By creating this document, I hope to help fix the problems |
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> that I see with Gentoo Linux. |
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|
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Mmm ... the problems I see with Gentoo Linux seem to be a little different: |
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|
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a) ebuilds marked stable w/ no robust QA procedures |
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b) unmaintained ebuilds |
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c) too many packages that Gentoo has no ebuilds for (yet ;-) |
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d) bugs not addressed quickly enough |
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|
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Basically, I want STABLE to *mean* STABLE, I want ebuilds for new releases |
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on the day the releases come out, and I want to be able to install all the |
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applications that I want to use. I'm a consumer in that respect, and my |
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concerns are anything that makes my consumer experience worse. And that |
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includes death-by-committee(TM). |
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|
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I don't see how any of your proposals are going to improve that situation. |
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|
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1). Constitution |
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If people don't understand the spirit behind such rules, then the rules |
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themselves are no protection. You'll get people nit-picking over the |
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written word, rather than over the intention behind those words. This |
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happens everywhere, and is (unfortunately) human nature. Something like the |
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Social Contract is much better, because it tries to capture the spirit that |
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is Gentoo. |
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|
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I've actually made this mistake with an organisation once, and as you can |
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probably tell, I regret it quite deeply ;-) |
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|
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2). Open Voting |
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This one's a close call for me. There is a real danger in all groups of |
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them becoming inward-looking - a clique. And when that happens, things tend |
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to go downhill very quickly. Having anyone able to stand for a position, |
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and publically be judged for the role, might be able to offset that. |
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|
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Problem is - that's exactly how useless good-for-nothing can't-code-for-shit |
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f**kers end up way over their heads in positions of authority. They can't |
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do the technical job themselves, so they decide to tell others how it should |
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be done. Politics is the passion of the parasite. |
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|
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The Linux kernel thrives precisely because it's led by technically-competent |
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people. Linus, Andrew, Alan et al are engineers first and foremost. Right |
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now, the 'senior' people I've delt with in Gentoo appear to be of a similar |
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mould. They've already survived the first hurdle - the threat of a fork - |
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and rather than circle the wagons, they've responded proactively and |
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positively to the *perception* that others have about Gentoo. I'm |
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personally encouraged by what I've seen, and have more confidence in Gentoo |
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than I did two months ago. |
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|
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3). Defined Terms For Managers |
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|
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Preserve the balance of *power*? If all this is about *power*, then I think |
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it's coming from completely the wrong direction. The pursuit of power of |
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some, and the fear of giving up power by others, is the politics of the |
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insecure and the paranoid. One lot believe the only way to survive is to |
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live off of the efforts of others, and the other lot live in fear of the |
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first lot because they know that they're too easy to push around. Very |
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unhealthy ;-) |
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|
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Why not do something more useful, and capture their *responsibilities* |
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instead? The function of management should be to ensure that key |
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*responsibilities* are met; and Gentoo should be no exception. This |
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healthier mindset would support the draft QA proposals that are kicking |
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around. Never give power to anyone - just give them more work ;-) And if |
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they don't meet their responsibilities, well - think of it as turkeys voting |
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for Christmas. |
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4). Meeting Procedure |
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I haven't been to any Gentoo meetings, so I can't comment on this. |
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|
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-- |
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|
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I just want to add my small voice to those calling for Gentoo to remain true |
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to its original nature. It's light, it's fast, and it's fun. And it |
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results in a distro that is fresh, exciting, and constantly improving. |
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Debian, RedHat, Mandrake, <insert distro here> - none of these were |
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original. They all arose from people who became unhappy with earlier |
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distributions - SLS, Slackware, Ygdrassil(sp?) and so on. At first, they |
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were all different too. But either politics, or money (or both) have |
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changed them, and not for the better. |
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|
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As organisations increase in size, some structure is inevitable. But it |
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seems the public debate is all about who gets into that structure and who |
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gets left out, rather than being about identifying clear goals for Gentoo |
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and then putting in a structure to meet those goals. If the goals aren't |
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clear, then the structure becomes self-serving. |
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|
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So I'm calling for the debate to shift away from politics, and onto |
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practicalities. Where are the *procedural* problems with Gentoo? What can |
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be done to get more ebuilds into portage, make it easier to keep ebuilds up |
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to date with current releases, and all whilst improving the quality of the |
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(dare I say it) 'customer experience'? Damnit - *these* are the things that |
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should matter. |
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|
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Best regards, |
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Stu |
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-- |
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-- |
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