If you wanted to dig in and learn a LOT about
the guts of a Linux system and all it entails,
something like linuxfromscratch would be super.
Kinda like building your own PC clone from
scratch--you learn what to do, and what not
to do.

My question is, with 4,000+ packages available
for (Linux|*BSD), and (tens|hundreds|thousands)
of (employees|volunteers) tracking the latest
version of each package and building a new
(.deb|.rpm) every (hour|day|week), exactly how
maintainable is a linuxfromscratch system?

On my woody Debian Linux system, I do an
"apt dist-upgrade" roughly once a week, and
the number of (changes|bug fixes) from week
to week is not small.  If I had a high-speed
connection, I would probably dist-upgrade
every night. I make an effort to use .debs
whenever possible, and resort to pristine
.tar.gz source when the .deb is REALLY
inconvenient, like when I need something
highly customized.


D

* On Wed, Sep 27, 2000 at 08:37:48AM -0700, Rod Roark wrote:
> If you're going to talk about relative merits of distributions and
> their vendors, it also seems relevant to talk about the realistic
> *alternative* to using a distribution.  I.e., installing Linux from
> scratch, as described at http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/.
> 
> My point is, one shouldn't ask the question "which distribution should
> I use?" until they have considered the question "should I use a
> distribution?".
> 
> Yes I have a personal interest in this as the originator and maintainer
> of LFSMake (http://lfsmake.org/), which to a large degree automates LFS
> installation.  So I may be a bit too close to the topic and it's fine
> with me if someone else wants to cover it.  I just think it should be
> mentioned.
> 
> -- Rod
>    http://www.sunsetsystems.com/
> 
> On Wed, 27 Sep 2000, der.hans wrote:
> > moin, moin,
> > 
> > all this FUD[2] about the different dists prompts me to make a suggestion
> > I was thinking about.
> > 
> > How would we like to have a panel of PLUG members talk about several of
> > the different distributions? My idea is to have people sign up to cover a
> > specific dist. They take turns talking about the good/bad things about the
> > dist and maybe even give a company/dist[3] profile, e.g. cover the
> > apparent market the company is aiming for, cover other things the company
> > works on, especially things that benefit Open Source and Linux in general.
> > 
> > I figure everybody gets 10 to 15 minutes. That gives us time for 5 or 6
> > dists as well as a break and some discussion at the end.
> > 
> > Specifically I think we need to cover RedHat, debian and Mandrake as those
> > seem to be in common use amongst LUG members.
> > 
> > Just for the record, dists that don't have an x86 version, e.g. Yellow
> > Dog, should also be up for grabs if someone wants to cover them.
> > 
> > It might even be nice to have someone cover a *BSD, but I'd rather have a
> > *BSD night some time and have good coverage of it. Same with hurd if
> > people are interested and it's considered usable by at least a few people
> > :).
> > 
> > Anybody interested? I think this would make a good topic for Dec.
> > 
> > BTW, I specifically don't want dist reps. I'd rather LUG members tell us
> > what they think and what their experiences were. I do want dist vendors to
> > make presentations at PLUG, but one at a time :).
> > 
> > ciao,
> > 
> > der.hans
> > 
> > [1] My original thought was to call it Dist Warz or something, but the
> > current threads and Kevin's suggestions make me want to de-emphasize dist
> > bashing ( even if it's fun :) and instead foster something positive.
> > Comparisions can be made, but we should try to keep it friendly. *After*
> > the meeting we can all sidle over to a jello-wrestling bar and let people
> > fight it out ;-).
> > [2] Yes, I was one of the people spreading it.
> > [3] I'll use "company" after this, but not all dists are really companies,
> > e.g. debian. Debian as an org still has a focus and still has side
> > benefits like hurd, so it can still be covered properly.
> > 
> > -- 
> > #  der.hans@LuftHans.com   home.pages.de/~lufthans/   www.Opnix.com
> > #  You can't handle the source! - der.hans
> 
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