Re: [gentoo-soc] We need your ideas for the Google Summer of Code

[Rich Freeman]

On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 10:28 PM, Steev Klimaszewski <steev@g.o> wrote:
> On Mon, 2014-02-24 at 15:07 -0500, Rich Freeman wrote:
>> On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 1:55 PM, Denis Dupeyron <calchan@g.o> wrote:
>> > Gentoo is a base distribition with its own set of derivatives, just like Debian
>> > and Slackware.
>>
>> Yup, and ironically most installations of Gentoo and its derivatives
>> run upstart, which isn't even in the portage tree.  How's that for
>> choice?
>>
>
> I don't quite get the "How's that for choice?" question, even if it's
> tongue in cheek...   The only derivative I know of that uses upstart is
> ChromeOS, and while I know that it's installed base is quite large, I
> don't know that it covers more than all others (when you include Gentoo
> in there.) Have Google ever released any numbers on ChromeOS devices?
> What other derivatives run upstart? I do ask out of genuine curiosity.

Agree the choice line was a bit of a stretch, but I think Gentoo is a
great distro to start with if you're pushing the limits, and Chrome OS
is clearly a significant departure from the norm.

Chrome OS is the only Gentoo derivative I'm aware of that uses
Upstart.  From Google it looks like they sold 2.5M of them last year.
I doubt that there are anywhere near 2.5M boxes running Gentoo or any
of its other derivatives.  I believe a Chromebook was the #1 selling
laptop on Amazon last year.

Agree with the rest of your post - I was just supporting the general
sentiment that defaults aren't as important as some think they are,
and neither is having one true sysvinit.  Sure, it is annoying that
some DEs lock you in to one option, and that may be a problem that
gets worse over time.  I don't see a need to either block DEs from
doing this, or to force everybody else to change to match.

Rich