Re: [gentoo-user] Am I wrong?..

[Albert Hopkins]

This is an interesting thread to analyze, even though 90.9% of it is
basically BS and flaming.

I actually can side a little bit with the OP.  But as a user of Gentoo,
vi and sudo.

If it were all up to me, I'd have visudo look at EDITOR and fail if it
doesn't exist.  But this is likely not the aim of upstream.  The name
*vi*sudo implies a partiality to vi.

However Gentoo uses nano as the default editor, and so I can understand
why the maintainer may feel that changing the default to nano in the
ebuild makes sense.  If you drop Gentoo on a box and install sudo then
by default nano will be there and vi won't.  So I'm not going to argue
with that.

Still vi is a "safe" default.  I remember when I first started using
Gentoo and was surprised that the default editor was nano.  I'm was like
"huh"?  It's a distribution where you have to choose your own system
logger and compile your own kernel, but when it comes to the text editor
they decide to "hold your hand" with nano?  

Still, I remember a while back a friend of mine got a new job where she
had to use Unix/Linux for the first time.  She asked me what editor she
should learn to use.  I told her she should learn vi first because it's
guaranteed to be on all Unix/Linux systems.  Then I had to hold down my
head in shame and say "except Gentoo". Nevertheless, that was someone's
choice, probably long ago, and it's easy to fix.  Life is short so we
have to choose our battles.  I actually have an ebuild in my overlay
that goes on all my systems. Among other things, it blocks nano,
installs vim and sets the appropriate EDITOR variable.  I'm quite happy
with this solution because it's is the "Gentoo Way" of doing things.

That's all analysis.  But this thread isn't about analysis really.  It's
about being heard and the louder you are and the more you blow things
out of proportion then the more chance you have of being heard. Children
learn this at an early age.  When I was a child I also learned that many
times it's more important how you ask for something than what you are
actually asking for.  Some parents spoil their children and give them
everything they want, and so as adults they lose this valuable life
lesson.

So while the OP may or may not have had an idea that was legitimate or
at least interesting, it will forever be overshadowed by his attitude
and lack of respect.  Perhaps the intention never was to bring about any
useful change but as a way of saying "I'm here! Can you hear me?"

We heard you.  Now let's move on.

-a