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On Wed, 26 Mar 2014 00:25:26 +0200 |
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Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com> wrote: |
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|
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> On 25/03/2014 22:08, »Q« wrote: |
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> > On Fri, 21 Mar 2014 06:37:20 -0400 |
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> > Tanstaafl <tanstaafl@×××××××××××.org> wrote: |
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> > |
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> >> On 3/20/2014 5:48 PM, »Q« <boxcars@×××.net> wrote: |
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> >>> Why should Gentoo have a default? |
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> >> |
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> >> Defaults are always a good idea - as long as they are reasonable |
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> >> and rational. |
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> > |
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> > In that case, Gentoo is missing a lot of "good" things, from a |
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> > default system logger to a default desktop environment. |
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> > |
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> > AFAICS, the benefit of defaults, provided they're reasonable, is |
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> > that they remove the burden of making choices from the user. But I |
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> > keep reading that Gentoo is all about user choice. |
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> |
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> You are conflating two things, it's actually quite disingenuous. |
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> |
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> Gentoo provides choice so you can do what you want. That doesn't |
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> preclude providing a default that suits people who see no need to make |
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> *that* choice for *them*, particularly when the thing being chosen is |
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> necessary or almost so. |
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Of course it doesn't preclude that; I'm sorry if implied that it did. |
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> >>> ISTM the only good reason is that not having a default would make |
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> >>> the documentation a lot more complicated. |
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> >> |
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> >> Documentation, *and* the install process itself. |
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> > |
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> > I'm not seeing that at all. |
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> |
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> You have to have *something* to be pid 1. the stage 3 might as well |
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> provide one of those somethings that suits the common case |
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> |
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> You can make it /bin/bash if you want, but that would be a very niche |
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> usage. The large majority of new installs will want a conventional |
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> init system whether SysVinit-based or systemd based. Traditionally |
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> SysVinit was the only real contender and baselayout/openerc were |
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> originally written for Gentoo. So those are still the defaults. |
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> |
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> Without a default, the user must set one up manually for things to |
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> work at all on first reboot. The install docs try hard to get the user |
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> through the necessary steps to get a bootable system, a lot of effort |
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> went into making the steps to accomplish that fewer, no more |
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Requiring the fewest possible number of choices to get to a bootable |
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system is a much better argument for a default than "defaults are |
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always good". |
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