Re: [gentoo-dev] Binary release of gentoo

[Jon Portnoy <avenj@gentoo.org>]

On Thu, Apr 10, 2003 at 04:29:00AM -0400, Cedric Veilleux wrote:
> > > I thought it was called Debian? ;o)
> > >
> > > Or perhaps, "I'd eat meat, if only it were vegetarian"
> > >
> > > Seriously though, I don't see the point, unless you want to sell more
> > > T-Shirts, there are a plethora of good binary distributions of linux out
> > > there already and all the downsides you list are what, imo, define
> > > Gentoo.
> > >
> > > I'd prefer to see gentoo improved as a source-based distribution
> >
> > Ditto. There is no point to a binary version of Gentoo. If you want that
> > then as Michael said just use Debian.
> 
> 
> I don't agree. Gentoo already supports binary packages anyways (emerge -b / 
> emerge -k). We're only talking about improving it AFAIK.. What's wrong with 
> improving some features of portage if it's possible and if it won't hurt 
> anyone?
> 

It's not a question of improving it so much as the distribution 
resources required.

I'm not sure you understand the full extent of the problems with 
distributing binary packaging. The short story is:
Besides loss of flexibility, it's a QA nightmare. It also requires a 
massive infrastructure behind it in terms of putting binary packages 
online for people to download. We don't have space on our mirrors, we're 
not very likely to host something like that - the resources just aren't 
there, frankly, and it doesn't seem very productive for us to dedicate 
those resources to binary distribution when we're a source-based 
distribution...

If someone wanted to do something like this independently, I think that 
would be an excellent resource to a lot of people. However, you need to 
consider the full implications - it's not as simple as it seems on the 
surface...

-- 
Jon Portnoy
avenj/irc.freenode.net

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