Re: [stali] scope (was: Re: [dev] neatroff)

From: Anselm R Garbe <garbeam_AT_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2016 13:03:23 +0200

On 11 August 2016 at 11:21, FRIGN <dev_AT_frign.de> wrote:
[..]
> I am sure suckless.org has a lot of street-cred in the OSS-scene. We
> could use this leverage to have a positive influence on a big
> distribution people actually use. In the long term, making OpenBSD
> better will benefit those who are scared of making the switch. We all
> know that OpenBSD is much further on the convergence line towards an
> ideal operating system for server and desktop applications than Linux
> and its messy userland.

I don't think that having a very compact linux based stali src is more
complex to maintain than trying to change little things in OpenBSD.

The purpose of OpenBSD nowadays has barely changed than its purpose 10
years ago. It is primarily used at the border of networks I guess.

The purpose of stali could be a nice IoT platform, with a completely
different embedded scope.

The purpose of the next leet linux distro could be the work
environment for the senior hacker. It could also well be OpenBSD or
FreeBSD, I don't mind.

But I also don't think that monoculturalism in terms of distros or
OSes is a good thing. Every little effort has its pros and cons.
OpenBSD is quite a decent OS overall, but for most it might be rather
limiting in scope. Unfortunately I also see the BSDs on the dying
path.

You could also suggest 9front or another Plan 9 bastardisation. It
will work in a specific scope, but won't give you much flexibility
outside the beauty of its world.

With stali I'm pretty much compact-userland-only oriented and benefit
from the kernel stuff others do. In BSD/P9 lands one is more
beauty-system oriented, but a loser when forced to use some kind of
commercial or semi-commercial software.

If the suckless community favours an own distro approach, I would
definitely start on the Linux path as well. There is no big reason
trying to change the BSDs for the better hardware support. That race
was lost already 15 years ago.

But I can understand your enthusiam for the BSD world. I have been
there 15 years ago as well.

Cheers,
Anselm
Received on Thu Aug 11 2016 - 13:03:23 CEST