Date: Sun, 7 Jul 2013 17:15:32 -0700 From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jordan.hubbard@gmail.com> To: "Chad J. Milios" <freebsd-list@nuos.org> Cc: =?iso-8859-1?Q?=22C=2E_Bergstr=F6m=22?= <cbergstrom@pathscale.com>, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Announcing: nuOS 0.0.9.1b1 - a whole NEW FreeBSD distro, NOT a fork Message-ID: <8045C2AE-1A20-44AD-A5D8-15E879FED6FE@turbofuzz.com> In-Reply-To: <51D9F45E.2050000@nuos.org> References: <51D9E499.103@nuos.org> <51D9E641.5020905@pathscale.com> <51D9F45E.2050000@nuos.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Jul 7, 2013, at 4:06 PM, "Chad J. Milios" <freebsd-list@nuos.org> = wrote: > This doesn't provide anything to the core OS that can't already be = done, albeit with many more keystrokes and the peril of possible = confusion and misconfiguration. The main thing here is a collaboration = of what we consider best practices and consolidating the more useful = configurations into consistent recipes with useful simplification of = parameters. We don't mean to add yet another layer in the name of = simplicity that obscures or hides the real nuts and bolt beneath and = limits your options. >=20 > We want to make things more flexible and easier at the same time by = using the sanctioned FreeBSD ways of doing things, simply allowing the = ones with most merit to rise to the top, hopefully through community = involvement. We've had a lot of success using this in our production = deployments and hope that we don't have to be the only ones to maintain = it forever. It is an open offer of contribution to The FreeBSD Project = but it probably doesn't exactly belong there yet. It's a layer above, so = to speak, and we think we have a place in the community working side by = side. [ As requested - removing freebsd-hackers and retaining only = freebsd-chat ] I, for one, am happy to see folks willing to strike out in new = directions with the FreeBSD code base. After 20 years of fairly gradual = evolution, I think it's fair to say that any major conceptual leaps are = probably going to happen outside the project, and not necessarily = eternally but just until they've proven themselves. That said, I see some flaws with the project as currently constituted: 1. Too much buzz-wordy mission statement, too little emphasis on = technical goals and/or specific points of differentiation. The nuos.org = web site is a veritable wall of (green!) text that is so verbose as to = be unreadable. If there's a purpose to the project, it's so obscured by = high-concept statements that it's essentially opaque. If you can't = reduce both the mission statement and the key points of technical = differentiation of your project to 6 one-sentence bullets or less, = you're doing something wrong! 2. You're trying to have your cake and eat it too when you create a new = project with a new name then say things like "it's not a fork" and = "we're going with the sanctioned FreeBSD way of doing things". If you = just wanted to create a "distro", you could have done it in far less = heavy-weight fashion with some special build tools that could be run = against a FreeBSD source tree to spit out a custom installation image, = just many other BSD variants currently doing (to good effect). FreeNAS = and pfSense are great examples of where a distinct brand was necessary. = nuOS is not, at least not yet. Call it what it is: A fork. That doesn't mean it has to be a fork in = perpetuity, but that's what it is now. Furthermore, you're not going to = attract many people by being just a couple of standard deviations away = from FreeBSD. If you're going to create any compelling reason to run = "nuOS" at all, it has to be more ambitious. Just shuffling everything = into ZFS filesystems by default has been done - check out a PC-BSD = distribution sometime. The whole configuration / startup management = picture that you claim to want to preserve from FreeBSD, on the other = hand, is really showing its age. 3. You've put the cart before the horse in emphasizing donations and = soliciting bitcoin to such a strong degree at the very outset of the = project, before it's proven its value to anyone. That runs the real = risk of a lot of folks in the community dismissing you as "just the = latest in a long line of wanna-be profiteers." First you attract a user = community THEN you look for donations to keep development going, if and = as necessary. That's not just a nice-to-have item, it's pretty crucial = to any success the project may have. - Jordan
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?8045C2AE-1A20-44AD-A5D8-15E879FED6FE>