Re: [gentoo-project] Some focus for Gentoo

[Daniel Campbell]

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On 01/13/2015 07:43 PM, Donnie Berkholz wrote:
> Wanted to share my thoughts on where I think Gentoo should go, in
> terms of direction. Would love to hear your thoughts.
>
> http://dberkholz.com/2015/01/13/gentoo-needs-focus-to-stay-relevant/
>
>
>
I'm not a developer, but I am interested in becoming one. That said, I
don't understand why relevance or focus are important. Is Gentoo not a
distribution made by people who feel that Gentoo meets their needs and
(for those who contribute) want to improve it? One of the core values
of Gentoo is the concept of choice. Without choice, none of the three
things you listed on the blog post are possible. People who were
trying to avoid things being pushed on them from other distros would
never have come here, and wouldn't be contributing. And that's only
one reason that people come to Gentoo.

With any other "migration" of sorts, you can rightfully expect that
most of the "refugees" will just be leeching users, but I would wager
that a not-insignificant portion of them will be users that, like me,
want to contribute or join the development effort and make Gentoo a
better distro. Choice and the "meta distribution" concepts are part of
that. I don't think they're the end-all, be-all of Gentoo, but those
two things open up a plethora of options and possible "focuses".

Gentoo is the furthest thing I can think of from being "for everyone".
But to anyone with the know-how or dedication, Gentoo really can fit
any use-case. You might need to build a number of scripts or tools on
top of the already great ones that Gentoo provides in order to meet
your needs, but there's a lot already in place that creates a lot of
value for a lot of different use cases. One's grandma or
non-tech-savvy friend doesn't really fit in on Gentoo since it
requires a passing understanding of a GNU/Linux system, and that's
okay. Gentoo, from what I can tell, is meant for the people dedicated
to running specific, lightweight, and/or versatile systems. Whether
they're a dev, need to manage 100+ machines, prefer a lean and fast
desktop, or need to pare it down for an embedded product, Gentoo can
and does meet all those needs.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but it seems like "focus" is referring
to actively marketing or advertising Gentoo to garner more interest.
Given the other marketing and pushing seen in the FOSS world
(specifically related to a certain audio stack and init system) I
don't see people taking kindly to that sort of behavior. Gentoo should
(and does) stand on its own as a great distribution to do many
different things with, without a marketing agenda.

But assuming I do misunderstand, are you talking about bringing those
benefits up if/when someone asks about Gentoo and/or putting it on the
front page of the wiki and the main site(s)? I see little to no harm
in adding bullet points to a list of benefits, and maybe Gentoo could
benefit from some good guides (in blogs or the wiki) for getting a
sane dev environment or setting up something for an Arduino or
Raspberry Pi, etc. I think doing that would be really good for giving
outsiders a more concrete example of things that Gentoo can do more
easily than other distributions. And that will almost certainly bring
in users. But what about the real problem?

The real problem, based on what I've read here on gentoo-dev,
gentoo-project, and so on, is a lack of manpower. A lot of Gentoo devs
supposedly don't work together too much, and prefer doing their own
thing. And to a degree that's the way it should be, since devs are all
volunteers. Nobody should be forced to do something on Gentoo unless
what they're doing is damaging to the distro as a whole. But let me
get back to my point...

More users means more bugs, more requests, more ideas, and
essentially... more work. There needs to be a smoother process for
people to become developers without sacrificing (too much of) the
integrity of Gentoo. More developers means more maintainers, more eyes
on bugs, and yes, more trouble coordinating group efforts. If the
pathway to become a developer is a bit smoother and easier, more users
- -- with considerable knowledge and/or a strong will to learn -- will
become valuable assets to the Gentoo team. A more prominent way to
tell the Gentoo community what challenges Gentoo is facing (like the
multilib migration from emul-linux-* to the abi_x86_32 USE flag), and
a clear pathway to joining the development efforts (say, with
developers who have the time to mentor adding their name to a list,
their specialties, etc) would do a lot to help visibility of Gentoo's
need for manpower. Then these new developers can lend their hand to
areas that they feel strongly about and are personally invested in.

For example, if/when I become a Gentoo dev I want to assist in ebuilds
for games, a few tools I personally use, and would want to join
efforts in OpenRC and eudev to help keep GNU/Linux free from vertical
integration efforts that most other distros are pushing for. I'm sure
I'm not the only Gentoo user out there who feels strongly about a few
things and could offer help on things that Gentoo seems to be in dire
need of. Personally, I'm not limited to what I listed above. If I
think I can learn enough to help, I'd be glad to help in any way I
can. Gentoo's a great distro with a knowledgeable and enthusiastic
community. If there's a way to get more of the community involved in
Gentoo's maintenance and progression, I think that's the way forward.
Switching the documentation to a wiki was a fantastic move that seems
to be improving Gentoo's docs by quite a bit and a great example of
what can be done to improve the distro.

The current issues I think Gentoo faces are more related to manpower
than relevance, focus, or usefulness. Maybe some new blood (to assist
the older, knowledgeable blood) is needed to help Gentoo move forward
faster.

Just my 2¢.
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