Re: Wouter and Gergely: software monopoly vs diversity
Hi Eugene,
On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 10:50:28AM +0200, Eugene V. Lyubimkin wrote:
> Hello,
>
> What is your vision about how many different software pieces can be
> supported by Debian as a project for each part of the software stack,
> would it be architectures, kernels, init systems, high-level package
> managers, desktop environments or something else? In other words, would
> you want Debian:
Given the positions I've consistently defended over the years to
problems relating to this, I think most of this, in my case, isn't a
secret. Nevertheless, it's probably a good idea to make it somewhat more
explicit. Thanks for giving me the chance to do that.
> a) concentrate more on the things people use most;
> b) or give more choices;
For starters, I believe that in most cases, these two don't necessarily
need to be in conflict. We can concentrate on what people use most, make
that the default, and make that default work really really well, without
making it impossible to allow people to work on alternatives
(architectures, kernels, user interfaces).
In some cases, of course, that isn't the case, and then things get
somewhat more complex. A good example on that is the systemd discussion
on -devel currently: making systemd the default and required init
implementation would, in the current state of things, instantly axe the
kFreeBSD port. I am of the opinion that this simple fact therefore rules
out systemd as the default and required init implementation for Debian;
but it looks as if not everyone shares that opinion currently.
My personal opinion in the specific case of the systemd discussion, and
in any case of a conflict between the above two options in general,
would lean more towards providing more choices. However, I am well aware
that not everyone is of that same opinion; so while as DPL I might
participate in discussions about such a subject, it is unlikely I will
be wearing my DPL hat in such a discussion.
(Of course, the systemd discussion is a bit more complex than just the
above paragraph, but a full discussion about the ifs and maybes there
would be far beyond the scope of just answering your question)
> c) stay like it is now?
I believe my above position isn't that, but YMMV :-)
--
The volume of a pizza of thickness a and radius z can be described by
the following formula:
pi zz a
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