Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: removing dhcpcd from system???

[Armando Di Cianno <fafhrd@gentoo.org>]

On 2004-09-30 20:12:07 -0400 Athul Acharya <aacharya@gmail.com> wrote:
> Now perhaps it may be prudent to suggest that a line about emerging
> dhcpcd go in the installation guides alongside the section about
> installing syslog etc. But there remains no reason for it to be in the
> system profile.

Yes, this would be quite prudent.

However, let me offer another way of looking at this.  Gentoo is a 
OS/"metadistribution" of Linux, as well as the name that encompasses 
its tools (portage; Gentoo on MacOSX, etc etc).  On systems where, for 
most intents and purposes, Gentoo is the OS (i.e. running on top of 
Linux, Hurd, whatever), Gentoo should make all attempts to be a usable 
OS _by default_.

When a users goes through the handbook, and install, Gentoo, maybe a 
note about DHCP support should be in there, but more to the point, 
maybe an entire page or section should be placed before the USE flags 
page, that describes the extent a user could conceivably alter the 
default layout.

Now, the default layout cannot, imho, be solely "additive" in 
features.  If this where the case, we need to remove /bin/login (in 
pam-login), and all /sbin/agetty (in util-linux), as I may be building 
for a completly headless server, or something like that.

It's reasonable to say "Well, a user can simply emerge dhcpcd", but it 
is as reasonable to say "a user can simply remove dhcpd from _their_ 
profile".

If a normal Gentoo/Linux install is going to be usable it _has_ to 
contain "normal" OS tools.  DHCP, even if you do not use it, is one of 
these tools.  Many, many people use this.  Same with /sbin/ifconfig 
itself (in net-tools) -- a user may not have a network connection _at 
all_.

This phenomenon is especially evident in make.defaults, in any 
profile.  Any one of us could name tens of use flags he or she turns 
off in their own default profile, I'm sure.  The point is: 
they're_defaults_.  They work for a great number of what people want, 
so they're in there.  If you are not one of those people, then follow 
this methodology:

if(feature_i_want->isDefault())
	echo "yay";
else
	feature_i_want->addToSystem();

if(feature_i_dislike->isDefault())
	echo "boooooo"
	feature_i_dislike->removeFromSystem();
else
	echo "yay";

The "system" here should be the supported default layout, any arch, 
any anything, that reasonably supports the greatest numbers of users / 
causes us the least headaches down the road when people complain about 
missing features.  The person who has to remove dhcpcd from their 
default layout is less likely to have something important to complain 
about than the person who cannot emerge dhcpcd because they have no 
dhcp client to connect to a network with!

If Gentoo was a plant, it's simply one you should prune _and_ feed.  
This should not be a concept that is difficult to understand.

__Armando
P.S.  **sheesh**


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