From: tytso@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Theodore Ts'o) Subject: Re: Linux source code reductions necessary or not? Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1992 00:15:09 GMT
From: db1@ukc.ac.uk (D.Bolla)
Date: 13 Mar 92 15:17:03 GMT
Reply-To: db1@ukc.ac.uk (Damiano Bolla)
1) Organize the ftp sites such there are different subtrees for different
releases of linux.
The problem with this suggestion is that there are many things which
will work for multiple releases, and it's painful to have to do figure
out what should be considered Linux 0.12, or 0.13, or 0.11..... for
example, the gcc which I have been using up until very recently was the
original GCC compiler that was released for 0.10.
It doesn't make sense to ask each FTP site maintainer to make their own
judgements about what binary works for which version of Linux. I (at
the very least) do not have that kind of time on my hands.
I do recognize the need for what you are requesting, and I have been
pinning my hopes on the "ABC Release" of Linux, which will hopefully
have everything bundled up for people to use. There will still be a
place for the more chaotic and concontrolled method of FTP distribution,
for people who are willing to live on the bleeding edge of technology.
But for most people, the "ABC Release" should make it much easier to put
together a release.
Of course, I suspect that the "ABC Release" will lag a bit when compared
to Linus's release of the sources, but if you're really impatient, you
can either do it yourself or pay someone enough money that they feel
like doing it for you on your schedule. Keep in mind, Linux is free
software, and that means is that while suggesting that someone might
want to do *X* can be productive, demanding that people to do things
just because it makes things more convenient for *you*, at possibly
great time and effort for *them*, doesn't necessarily go over very well.
:-)
- Ted