[olug] Distro X?

[Kevin D. Snodgrass]

--- On Thu, 3/24/11, Daniel J Griffiths (Ghost1227) <ghost1227 at archlinux.us> wrote:
> Before I get into what exactly I am
> looking for, let me tell you a little
> about myself. My introduction to Linux came through a copy
> of Red Hat 2.4
> given to me by a friend. As new distributions were

RedHat 4.2, circa late 1996 - early 1997.

> introduced, I went
> through the typical distro-hopping spree that many Linux
> users go through.

Not much for me, but I did use one of the BSDs before.

> So why another Linux distro? Several reasons, perhaps most
> importantly the
> challenge and knowledge to be gained. Additionally, I
> haven't found a distro
> that completely suits me. Some aren't stable enough, some
> are too
> conservative. Some take too much choice away from the user,
> some allow full
> customization but at the expense of usability. The list

One >HUGE< complaint from me about the major distros is the "integration" of crap like Samba and Evolution into useful things.  I have absolutely no use for Winders crap, but in order to keep my package management from being borked I have to keep it around.  Example: Evolution Data Server

# rpm -e evolution-data-server
error: Failed dependencies:
	libebook-1.2.so.9 is needed by (installed) nautilus-sendto-2.28.4-3.fc13.i686
	libebook-1.2.so.9 is needed by (installed) control-center-1:2.30.1-3.fc13.i686
	libecal-1.2.so.7 is needed by (installed) gnome-panel-2.30.0-4.fc13.i686
	libedataserver-1.2.so.13 is needed by (installed) gnome-panel-2.30.0-4.fc13.i686
	libedataserver-1.2.so.13 is needed by (installed) nautilus-sendto-2.28.4-3.fc13.i686
	libedataserverui-1.2.so.8 is needed by (installed) gnome-panel-2.30.0-4.fc13.i686
	evolution-data-server >= 1.9.1 is needed by (installed) gnome-panel-2.30.0-4.fc13.i686

Kinda hard to dump gnome-panel and control-center.  Maybe I could find a replacement for nautilus...

These things need to be pluggable modules.  If installed then use them as needed, if not then don't complain.

I'm kind of a nit about certain sysadmin things and having completely useless software on my system is one thing that drives me crazy.  Each time I install a new distro I spend hours dumping crap that someone, somewhere thought would be a good idea for everyone to have on their system.  (Exactly why do I need fonts for dozens of Asian languages?  I'll never be able to read them...)

> goes on. As such, I
> am now working on what will hopefully become a viable Linux
> distribution
> henceforth known as Distro X (hey, I haven't come up with a
> decent name
> yet).

Is Acme Linux used yet?

> terms of its release cycle, and Red Hat caters exclusively
> to enterprise
> users.

Official Red Hat, primarily a server distro.  Fedora is a different animal.

> We believe that in an ideal distribution, users should have
> as much say in
> the deployment of their system as possible. As such, when a

Like whether any Winders compatibility crap is needed?  Or dozens of fonts that are of no use?  Or toys like irc clients, im clients, etc?

> line. Unlike most
> mainstream distributions, Distro X does not provide a
> so-called default X
> environment. This allows the user to define the parameters

But you will have a selection box to pick and choose what the user wants for XWindows install, right?

> binary distro. Similar to Arch, the core of the distro will
> be distributed
> in binary format, as will certain critical and/or
> common-use packages. Build

Have you decided on a package format?  RPM, .deb, other?

> If you think you have something to contribute to this
> project, be it through
> core development, UI design, release engineering or
> something else
> altogether, please let me know! Suggestions for a name?

Possibly...

Name?  How about Kodiak Linux.  Bears are cool... :-)

http://michaelguth.com/pictures/brown%20bear.jpg

Kevin D. Snodgrass