Re: Gratuitous promotion of random binaries to standard
On 06-Feb-1998, John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> wrote:
> Dale Scheetz <dwarf@polaris.net> writes:
>
> > My concern is not so much with MC being rejected as a "standard" package,
> > but more with the entrenched conservatism that says, only those packages
> > that have historically been considered "part of a standard Unix system"
> > are ever to be considered as "standard" Debian packages. This strict
> > interpretation is the definition of a "dead language", an unchanging
> > static object that can never be adapted to a new environment and will
> > therefore become extinct.
>
> Well it would appear that even these aren't being followed. For
> instance...
>
> * Perl is even a higher priority, yet it is not a standard part of
> Unix.
>
> * LaTeX is a huge system not a standard part of Unix.
>
> * cvs, flex, etc....
>
> My own opinion is that LaTeX is one that shouldn't be in standard, but it
> seems others are OK.
There is no longer a "standard" Unix system. There's simply too much
software that people use everyday.
For technical writers and university people, "LaTeX" is pretty much
standard. For people with a DOS background, "mc" might be considered a
standard tool. For developers, "gcc" or "egcs" might be standard.
For graphics people, "gimp" might be standard.
Probably a better solution than "standard" is to have suggested
base configurations (lists of packages) that are grouped according
to people's needs - for example "Linux Newbie" or "Power Artist" or
"Webmaster" or "Kernel Hacker" that have tools and applications
appropriate to the particular user. Of course, this is just a kick-start
to the normal package selection system.
With a system like this, there would be a lot fewer arguments about
what kind of tools to put in standard (and only a few about what
configuration to make the default). I'm pretty sure Deity will support
this or something similar.
Tyson.
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