Re: Switching /bin/sh to dash (part two)
On Thu, Jul 23 2009, Raphael Geissert wrote:
> Manoj Srivastava wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Jul 21 2009, Raphael Geissert wrote:
>>>
>>> The goal of dropping bash from essential is not to remove bash from the
>>> systems (or from Debian), it is about making packages really using it
>>> depend on it.
>>
>> Can you explain why this added dependency is a good thing, apart
>> from creating more work for people?
>
> I'd prefer if this is discussed when the proposal is actually made
And I prefer to cut off silly proposals in the bud, if at all
possible, before significant effort is spent on it. The question is, is
this proposal silly? In order to evaluate that, we have to find out
_why_. The Embedded folk have made a reasonable argument for not
wanting the weight of bash or zsh. Understandable, though it represents
a smallish, competent section of the user base.
> (not to mention that I'm not really the person who plans to carry
> it).
If you are really not the competent person to defend the idea,
perhaps you should not be so free to assert it as a truism.
> But well, one of the ideas is to avoid having such extra stuff deeply
> tied to the core system, i.e. essential.
That's it? The time to try to reduce the set of Essential
packages is to deny entry to new items (like dash), since once the
package is essential, people (and not just package maintainers) come to
rely on it. Our user base, in particular, has had 15+ years to rely on
bash -- and there are loads of user scripts, support systems, cron
jobs, third part packages -- that need bash.
Once something is marked essential, it takes a lot of pain to
remove it, and transition the user base off the package. Oh, gee, I
think it is a good idea to not have bash essential perhaps does not
meet the cut when trying to determine if the pain that one must go
through is worth the return.
manoj
leaning towards silly
--
I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less.
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/~srivasta/>
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