Re: [gentoo-dev] Gentoo could become certified for IBM Server Hardware

[Michiel de Bruijne <m.debruijne@hccnet.nl>]

On Wednesday 04 May 2005 11:03, daniel.kerwin@allianz.de wrote:
> Hello,
>
> i just returned from a meeting with IBM which was about getting
> support for Gentoo Linux (hardware and software). The people from IBM
> told me that it's possible for Gentoo to become officially supported
> on IBM server hardware (xSeries, pSeries and zSeries).
>
> They told me about their hardware offerings to the Debian Project so
> that they could certify their distribution. I think this is a great
> chance for gentoo to become more common for productive use.
>
> Is there a general interrest in doing this and how can this start?

Interest; yes, believe that it will happen in the (forseeable) future; 
absolutely not.

The biggest showstopper is that needs to be fixed first is lack of 
predictability:
- Gentoo is extremely customizable (USE-flags, compiler settings, etc.). To 
achieve predictability all those customizable options need to be locked.
- moving Portage-tree; if I install a system today, it wont be the same as a 
system I installed one month ago.
- no standard method of installation; supported OS's are basically clicking 
next, next, finish. Installation is done, system is identical. With Gentoo 
you get a lot of choices for a single component (e.g. vanilla-sources vs. 
gentoo-sources, vixie-cron vs. dcron, etc.). A default needs to be defined.

Second showstopper is lack of (LSB-)certification;
Like it or not, the typical managers in this world say if product x isn't 
y-certified we wont use/support it. Gentoo needs a profile for a 
LSB-compliant system.

There are more items that needs to be resolved before it's even possible to 
talk about official support. Good news is that with the current 
"Gentoo-framework" it's possible to fix both problems for example by creating 
a profile, lock everything in this profile and make sure old ebuilds are not 
removed during a sync. Other options are also possible (e.g. creating a 
separate tree). See GLEP 19 for more details. The only problem is lack of 
interest/time/priority from the developers/community.

If you want support from a company as big as IBM, you need to start smaller 
(e.g. NX, MySQL, Open-Xchange). If these companies are willing to support 
their products on Gentoo, then maybe bigger companies will follow.
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