From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from lists.gentoo.org ([140.105.134.102] helo=robin.gentoo.org) by nuthatch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.62) (envelope-from ) id 1I5n35-00033E-97 for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:24:27 +0000 Received: from robin.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by robin.gentoo.org (8.14.0/8.14.0) with SMTP id l63IN9v3023722; Tue, 3 Jul 2007 18:23:09 GMT Received: from smtp.gentoo.org (smtp.gentoo.org [140.211.166.183]) by robin.gentoo.org (8.14.0/8.14.0) with ESMTP id l63II49W017662 for ; Tue, 3 Jul 2007 18:18:25 GMT Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smtp.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 05AFF65B11 for ; Tue, 3 Jul 2007 18:13:11 +0000 (UTC) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at gentoo.org X-Spam-Score: 0.033 X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.033 required=5.5 tests=[AWL=0.033] Received: from smtp.gentoo.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp.gentoo.org [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id VGPQzPoj8fun for ; Tue, 3 Jul 2007 18:13:08 +0000 (UTC) Received: from ciao.gmane.org (main.gmane.org [80.91.229.2]) (using TLSv1 with cipher AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2AD1665B0C for ; Tue, 3 Jul 2007 18:13:07 +0000 (UTC) Received: from list by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1I5mrz-0002xs-9Y for gentoo-user@gentoo.org; Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:12:59 +0200 Received: from 84-72-80-14.dclient.hispeed.ch ([84.72.80.14]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:12:59 +0200 Received: from listen by 84-72-80-14.dclient.hispeed.ch with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:12:59 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org From: Alexander Skwar Subject: [gentoo-user] Re: Is Gentoo Healthy? (The Return) Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:13:48 +0200 Organization: =?UTF-8?B?LsK3Lg==?= Message-ID: <2778102.kCAd1KTCnp@m-id.message-center.info> References: <49bf44f10707030907jaa9f524maef27beb2a7c9df@mail.gmail.com> <5bdc1c8b0707030946x5e951d3dg1c7dd261ee89f1d0@mail.gmail.com> <49bf44f10707031014l5c52585fo6087c9e4502bf401@mail.gmail.com> Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: 84-72-80-14.dclient.hispeed.ch User-Agent: KNode/0.10.4 Sender: news Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by robin.gentoo.org id l63IN9vM023722 X-Archives-Salt: eff3aad1-d339-4dc2-9feb-a7aac666250d X-Archives-Hash: 75aaf8d45343c5b795b35d70ffaa2533 =C2=B7 Grant : >> > In December 2006 I started a thread titled "Is Gentoo Healthy?" in >> > which I was roundly put down for raising the possibility that the >> > decline in the number of Gentoo users could possibly affect the >> > remaining Gentoo users in a negative way. >> > >> > Is everyone still toeing that line? The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter >> > hasn't been published in almost two months. Is Gentoo destined to b= e >> > just another distro starved for contributors and struggling to stay = up >> > to date? If so, I really misjudged it. The meta approach of Gentoo >> > is superior to any other in my mind, and I think it's growth and >> > potential are being stunted by the "we don't need them" attitude whi= ch >> > perpetuates Gentoo's lack of usability features for beginners. >> > >> > Gentoo needs as many users as possible to reach its potential. It's= a >> > short-sighted mistake to think that non-contributing users do Gentoo >> > no good. Non-contributing users become contributors as time passes. >> > Car mechanics all start as car drivers. >> > >> > - Grant >> >> Hi Grant, >> I think Gentoo is 'healthy', in the sense that it continues to >> thrive. On the other hand I have, over the last 6-9 months started to >> think of Gentoo as 'mature'. The distro has apparently become what it >> is going to be. While that may not be all I hoped for it is clearly >> worth while and a contributing member of the group of Linux distros so >> that's great. >> >> As a non-developer, general work-a-day Linux user I do feel that >> Gentoo has lost some of its energy. Maybe that's all part of becoming >> a mature distro. When I first started with Gentoo in (I think 2000) >> this was a very lively place and it was clear that there was a real >> push on to grow the tools, grow the distro, grow the user base. While >> I think that today those metrics would still be considered valuable, >> it is not my view that there is a lot of energy being put into taking >> things to the next level. (Whatever the heck that might be!) >> >> Anyway, I value Gentoo greatly. It's been a really great distro to >> me. Folks have treated a non-IT Linux dummy like me with great respect >> and for the most part a pretty gentle hand. I've learned a lot when I >> wanted to. The documentation, in my mind, is second to none which >> makes my life easier. (Sometimes....) >> >> What's in Gentoo's future? I haven't a clue. I have wondered a few >> times in the last year if I'd have to look for another distro one of >> these days.....but I never have. Two to three years ago that thought >> never entered my mind. >=20 > Hey Mark, >=20 > Thanks for the insight. I hope it never happens, but if the day comes > when Gentoo suffers a lack of contributors to such an extent that I > have to find a new distro, where will I go? Is Debian the only other > meta-distro out there? No, Debian is no "meta-distro". It's a distribution just like=20 Fedora Core or Mandriva. The only thing that sets Debian apart is, that it's a truely non-commercial distribution and that it is quite big. Another "Debian specialty" is, that it has a "mission", so to speak. > It's not exactly thriving is it? Is the=20 > meta-distro concept perhaps flawed? =20 No, I don't think so. It's just not something which is completely "main stream compatible". And I don't think that this is bad ;) > The thought of installing the=20 > latest Ubuntu release, wading through a bunch of software I'll never > use, and waiting for the next big release before anything is updated > makes me wanna throw up. Yep. Alexander Skwar --=20 Your step will soil many countries. --=20 gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list