Re: [Lennart Poettering] Re: A few observations about systemd
Wouter Verhelst <wouter <at> debian.org> writes:
> Debian is the 'Universal' operating system, and many of our developers
> (including myself) pride themselves on that. We port to many
> architectures, we port to multiple kernels. It's one of the defining
> features of Debian: you can run it /anywhere/
This is an almost religious argument. You take the value of running on multiple
kernels as an article of faith, with no evaluation of the benefits (either to
people directly using such ports, or possible feedback to the main
distribution). It's hard to make rational arguments against such a position,
other than to note that the position is irrational and causes practical harm
where it interferes with rational decisions. I think one fallacy underlying that
position is to consider supporting a new "first-class" object such as a new
kernel as a big step towards "universality" even if it isn't actually that
useful in many cases - being usable in one more niche Linux subcase could well
mean more in practice than being usable with BSD kernel.
I wonder how many developers actually "pride themselves" in the existence of the
kFreeBSD or Hurd ports. I hope not too many. The Debian Linux distribution does
have real value for users and for the development of free software.
Reply to: