From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Received: from smtp.gentoo.org (smtp.gentoo.org [134.68.220.30])
	by robin.gentoo.org (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id j3OIjlTD017238
	for <gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org>; Sun, 24 Apr 2005 18:45:48 GMT
Received: from blacksun.leftmind.net ([204.225.91.92])
	by smtp.gentoo.org with smtp (Exim 4.43)
	id 1DPm6g-0002Fc-GI
	for gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org; Sun, 24 Apr 2005 18:45:26 +0000
Received: (qmail 19231 invoked by uid 500); 24 Apr 2005 18:45:56 -0000
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 14:45:56 -0400
From: Anthony de Boer <gentoo-dev@lists.leftmind.net>
To: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] cleaning out 'bc' and 'ed' from system
Message-ID: <20050424144556.A26350@leftmind.net>
References: <20050422064651.GA7439@sympatico.ca> <4268A33F.9070704@gentoo.org>
Precedence: bulk
List-Post: <mailto:gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org>
List-Help: <mailto:gentoo-dev+help@gentoo.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:gentoo-dev+unsubscribe@gentoo.org>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:gentoo-dev+subscribe@gentoo.org>
List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail <gentoo-dev.gentoo.org>
X-BeenThere: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org
Reply-to: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
In-Reply-To: <4268A33F.9070704@gentoo.org>; from mrness@gentoo.org on Fri, Apr 22, 2005 at 10:09:51AM +0300
X-Archives-Salt: bcdb3289-7f82-4992-b152-1ee0266e6a5a
X-Archives-Hash: 464c5c413153ac88a99220c50f74e6c1

Alin Nastac wrote:
> when was the last time you used ed? it is a completely useless editor,
> peeps use vim instead.

I use "vi", not "vim", though of course the former is a symlink to the
latter on Linux systems for the last number of years.

Last time I used ed was on an RH system with a broken /usr mount; vi
was on that partition, but ed lived in /bin, so I used it to fix
/etc/fstab.  Using ed is like riding a bicycle; you remember pretty
quickly how to use it.  But then, I've been using Unix since halfway
back to the Epoch.

> anyway, who says you cannot install ed if you want it so bad?

I don't think Larry The Cow wants some group of people deciding that
all Gentoo users have to get exactly a certain set of tools.  The
embedded folk have everything they need if it boots at all, prettymuch.
I'd want to have all the traditional Unix stuff available as a baseline,
while someone coming to Linux for the first time in 2005 might never
want to bother with some of the tools of that older generation.

Possibly there should be a "tradunix" ebuild that pulls in all the
traditional Unix stuff as dependencies (and is otherwise empty), and
similarly for other sets of things people hold dear, just to act as
macros when you're setting up a system.

The baseline should be as barebones as possible.  Offering a set of
things useful to the new user is a useful default, but should be only
that, not a set of things you have to accept if you want to pick and
choose stuff yourself.

-- 
Anthony de Boer
-- 
gentoo-dev@gentoo.org mailing list