Re: Debian Lenny Based SimplyMEPIS 8.0 is Released
Jimmy Johnson <field.engineer@gmail.com> writes:
> H.S. wrote:
>> Jimmy Johnson wrote:
>>> Neil Ellwood wrote:
>>>
>>>> Personally I haven't found anything easier than Debian and it is more
>>> reliable than anything else I have tried. Why use a derivative when
>>> the original is marvellous?
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi Neil, I'm along time Debian user (7 years) and if there was
>>> something wrong with Mepis I would not suggest you trying it, saying
>>> that, Mepis has one click tools that Debian don't have, like it will
>>> repair grub for you with a click or reinstall a working
>>> x-configuration for you with a
>
>> Wonderful! Repairing grub and X with a click seems to be very useful
>> to desktop users. Can't Mepis give back to Debian by providing these
>> packages to Debian repos? Other such GUI conveniences too.
>
>
> Mepis (Warren Woodford) has given plenty to the community
Mepis was the first non-Windows distro that I used, and it is indeed a
fine product. However, I eventually moved on to Debian, in part because
Mepis was a (wonderful) one-man show, and not a community project, and
the unique software elements that distinguished it from other distros
(the one-click config tools you refer too) were subject to proprietary
licensing.
Has Warren since changed his position on licensing his own programs? If
he has, all Debian needs is someone to package them up, and I'm not sure
why the failure of one individual Debian maintainer to do so is a
show-stopper here. If the tools are good (which I suspect they are) and
are available as Free Software, there is no barrier to any debian
maintainer picking them up.
But I think you need to dig into your documentation and see if you can
find the licenses that apply to the tools you're talking about. I
couldn't find anything on the Mepis website. Last I looked, they were
not Free Software.
If Warren still hasn't released his tools under a Free license, I would
question the statement that Warren has given plenty to the community.
But the idea of community seems to mean two very different things in
this context. In the Debian system, the community includes hundreds of
developers who collaborate to produce the distro, and thousands of users
who collaborate to provide support in various fora. In Mepis, the
community appears to be only the latter: the very supportive user
community. Development is still pretty much restricted to Warren and a
small team of helpers.
As I said, it's been years since I used Mepis, so I'm admittedly out of
touch. But at the time I left, there were barriers on the Mepis side
that would prevent the adoption of any of the great tools developed
there for inclusion in Debian. I would be happy to be corrected on these
points, though.
Cheers,
Tyler
--
Only YOU can stop forest fires.
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