Hal Vaughan wrote:
There's a big difference between being x86 only and dropping architectures that are rare, rarely used, or hardly ever used in a production environment. I don't know which architectures Debian supports, but if some take longer to make packages work, and are hardly ever used, then it is only right to question why they are supported. Is it only for prestige or the right to claim a higher level of geekiness, or is it because large numbers of people use that architecture so it needs support. Just a point in the interest in keeping things straight.
Portability among various architectures is a strength not a weakness. The fact that Debian takes the time to ensure that things are truly portable makes it unique from other distros. Try to find another version of Linux with that vision... Don't see the world through narrow blinders. The fact that Debian is ported to so many different architectures makes it great for embedded devices an other things that don't contain an Intel, AMD, or a PPC chipset. Go over to the LKML and tell them they should drop support for a few obscure architectures to speed up kernel releases and see how they react. I don't think that porting to countless architectures plays a huge role in holding up the release of Sarge. I do think it helps makes packages more stable and ultimately benefits us all. Think about bugs that turn up on various architectures that would otherwise go unnoticed (even if they are just build issues). Debian is unique for several reasons. It supplies more software than any other distro out there. It supports more architectures than any other distro out there. It is 100% non-profit. I don't think these should be viewed as flaws. If you want fast stable (but limited software) releases then use Ubuntu. This is their goal. You're not selling out, you're still supporting Debian in the long run. We will continue to work in the shadows providing the things we've always provided. Things most people seem to take for granted these days. -- "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." - Albert Einstein
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature