Re: [gentoo-dev] USE flags dri, cups, pppd

[Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org>]

On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 2:46 AM, Hans de Graaff <graaff@gentoo.org> wrote:
> Setting the option in the profile tells me: "Here's this option you can
> play with, and we think you might need it. Or not."
>
> Setting the option in the ebuild tells me: "You know, we are nice and
> give you this option, but really you should keep this turned on.
> Really."

I'm not sure that either really has those connotations.  They're both
recommended defaults, and as with any recommended default changing it
could vary in impact.

I think that package defaults make sense from the standpoint of having
flags that really do vary in usage between packages.  Profile defaults
are good for tweaking the overall characteristics of a system.

The profile defaults do seem less and less relevant, because we only
have 4 profiles.  The kde/gnome/desktop profiles get a lot of care,
and the default basically gets touched very little.

If somebody really wants to make more minimal profiles that actually
mean something, rather than just trying to tweak the default profile I
think it would actually make more sense to make new profiles and
actually turn them into something useful.  Maybe have a
hardened-server profile and accompanying stage3s that let you install
a hardened server that "just works."  Maybe have a Raspberry Pi
profile.  Things that are very specific, and therefore actually
accomplish something.  Obviously somebody needs to maintain them if
they're going to create them, but at least they'd be useful to
SOMEBODY.

The problem with things like a "minimal default" profile are that
everybody has a different idea of what it should be, and as a result
the people who tend to want minimal just end up setting -* and
tweaking everything anyway.  That means that we're debating stuff and
messing with existing systems and not really accomplishing anything of
meaning for anybody.  For one person minimal means that we replace
half the GNU tools with busybox, and for another it just means
disabling things like CUPS.

I think that rather than tossing individual questions about individual
flags to the list if some developers want to have a minimal profile
they should form a project and create one.  Maybe leave the default
profile alone, unless there is some flag change that is just a
no-brainer.  I think the bottom line is that creating a minimal
default profile that is actually useful for something and which
accomplishes the goals of those envisioning it is going to be a lot
harder than it might seem.

Rich