[indiana-discuss] The Root of All Evil

[Al Hopper]

+1

Well written and very insightful. 
Thanks Gabriel for taking the time to present your insights.

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007, Gabriel Lamounier wrote:

> The root of all evil is not money, it's poor or lack of communication.
>
> That said, allow me to introduce myself. I've been a big Solaris fan
> for the last 12 years, because I consider it as being the best OS the
> man has ever made.
>
> Solaris is a full blown, bullet proof, time tested OS. Many business
> around the world depends on it, on it's advanced functionalities,
> relies on it's stability and on it's stable evolution path. And
> OpenSolaris is the direct decendent of this heritage.
>
> So, what is all this talk about? Well, the point is: I'm very
> concerned about OpenSolaris' future and the future of this community
> as well, being the reason something called Project Indiana.
>
> I'll try co keep this post on the highest level possible, so please,
> keep on reading.
>
> I started hearing many things about Project Indiana that I haven't
> liked, so I'd went to investigate. I've used the software and I've
> spent two days reading the list archives to figure out what is
> happening.
>
> After all that, I've came to a conclusion: Everything that's
> happening, all the problems and criticisms this project is facing is
> result of it's poor or lack of communication. And sometimes poor
> communication is worse than none.
>
> So, where have this project failed? This is a simple one. It failed
> not being able to answer the question: What is Project Indiana? Which
> leads to the one most people in here care about: Is Project Indiana
> the future of OpenSolaris?
>
> Let's face it, why are we here? We're here, because we care about
> OpenSolaris, because we love it or depend on it. The future and
> development of OpenSolaris is the reason of this community.
>
> What is Project Indiana? Is it the the future of OpenSolaris?
>
> Depending on the way these questions had been answered (if they had
> been), things might have been very different. So, let's explore three
> different scenarios:
>
> Scenario #1: Project Indiana is just another distribution based on OpenSolaris
>
> Oh, my... Why haven't you said that before? Pick up your stuff and
> move out. Haven't you heard? I really mean move out.
>
> If Project Indiana is just another distribution based on OpenSolaris,
> it's no different from BeleniX or NexentaOS and shouldn't be hosted
> nor developed in opensolaris.org. Move out, build your own community
> and live well.
>
> And don't name it OpenSolaris, because it's not! Not even a
> developer's preview of it.
>
> Scenario #2: Project Indiana is a testbed for new technologies and
> concepts for OpenSolaris
>
> If the questions had been answered this way, I bet none of the recent
> flames would have been fired. Why? Because the technologies presented
> and the decisions made in the project would have no direct relation to
> the future of OpenSolaris, it's just a testbed. A place where you can
> throw the craziest ideas just to see if they work. No commitment!
>
> Let's make the root shell zsh.. Nice! Let's set yum as the new package
> manager... Great! Let's reimplement the kernel in a mach microkernel
> style... Super! Look, plain GNOME... How lovely, can we try making a
> better desktop from this on? Bunch of GNU tools... Bring up FreeBSD
> ports tree too!
>
> And, why is that? Because no one would have seen this things as they
> were going to be present in the next OpenSolaris/Solaris release.
>
> But as people tend to draw conclusions based on past knowledge. So, as
> no one told them Project Indiana was just a testbed to try out new
> things, people assumed it was going to be the next
> OpenSolaris/Solaris. Why? Based on their knowledge about Nevada.
>
> Scenario #3: Project Indiana is the future of OpenSolaris
>
> Stop the press! Actually, stop everything. Take your fingers out of
> that keyboard, don't even think of writing another single line of
> code.
>
> If Project Indiana is the future of OpenSolaris... Santa Clara, we've
> got a (big) problem!
>
> The first problem is the distribution thing. OpenSolaris is not a
> bunch of software put together, it's an OS. Solaris is an OS, Mac OS X
> is an OS, even Windows is an OS. Linux is not an OS. There is no such
> thing as a Linux OS. Every Linux incarnation is a distribution.
>
> So, why base the furure development of OpenSolaris on something that it's not?
>
> As I said before, OpenSolaris is a full blown OS. And what being a OS
> mean? It means that all of it's parts were designed to work together,
> from the kernel to the GUI. Every single part of it has not put to
> work together, they have been designed to do so.
>
> The the other problems come from the fact that this project is trying
> to make OpenSolaris more friendly to Linux people.
>
> Isn't it good? No. Many of actual Linux users will come! No.
>
> Have you guys ever thought why does anyone uses OpenSolaris? Why
> OpenSolaris has attracted so many people? Why is it so successful?
> That's another simple one: Because it is Solaris!
>
> When people come to OpenSolaris they come, because it is Solaris.
> People want to use OpenSolaris because it is what it is. A full blown,
> bullet proof, mature OS. An OS that has been being developed for more
> than 20 years. And if you consider the whole UNIX development time,
> it's almost 40 years!
>
> So, why not change the root shell to bash? Well, I'll quote an old
> Paul Fishcher's article in order to explain this.
>
> "... never change the root's shell. Millions of hours have gone into
> the evolution of Unix. Hundreds of thousands more have been put in by
> different OS manufacturers. Therefore, don't second guess them
> changing the login shell for root to something other than the
> manufacturer's default. You're just inviting trouble when you do.
> Multitudinous scripts and routines rely on the root shell being
> properly defined as the manufacturer intended ..."
>
> Why not use GNU tools instead of the OpenSolaris counterparts? The
> same principle applies. (Don't take me wrong I have nothing against
> GNU tools, they're very good, the point here is completely different)
>
> [I was trying not to mention anyone in particular, but it will be a
> bit difficult from now on]
>
> So, suddenly someone comes with this great distribution and GNU ideas,
> disrupting the development and evolution process of OpenSolaris and
> bringing instability to the community. How do you dare to do so? You
> don't have the right!
>
> I know that you come from the distribution/GNU side of the world, and
> have done quite good things in there, but things are a bit different
> in here.
>
> You may be Sun's chief OS strategist, which I think means that you are
> the one who tells Sun the path Solaris should follow, but wait,
> OpenSolaris is not Sun's proprietary toy anymore. You may tell Sun
> what to do with Solaris, but you have no powers here, you're not even
> member of the OpenSolaris Governing Board.
>
> And why can't you or anyone else simply come here and change things?
>
> Because OpenSolaris belongs to the community and, as stated in the
> Article II of the OpenSolaris Constitution:
>
> "... The OpenSolaris Community has the authority and responsibility
> for all decisions pertaining to the OpenSolaris ..."
>
> Which means, the OpenSolaris Community is the only one who can decide,
> change  and trace the future of OpenSolaris and it shall be done in a
> democratic way.
>
> I know it's been a long post, but things MUST be clarified. We have
> the right to know and decide where OpenSolaris is heading to.
>
> OpenSolaris development and evolution must be driven by technical
> merits only not by marketing, politics, ideology nor press reviews.
>
> Does OpenSolaris needs a better packaging system? Let's go for it. A
> better installer? Bring it on, we're not afraid to code. Does
> OpenSolaris needs to evolve? Come on, let's plan it together.
>
> But we won't buy decisions made on only one side of the table or by a
> single person.
>
> This is a community effort and decisions must be made and approved by
> the community. Or are you willing to risk a fork? Who would benefit
> from that?
>
> The future of OpenSolaris depends on us, in our ability to work
> together, talk to each other, to listen to each other, to be able to
> express our wishes and concerns.
>
> Let's learn how to communicate clearly and precisely, because it's
> poor or lack of communication that's the root of all evil.
>
> Thanks for reading.
>
> Best regards,
> Gabriel Lamounier
>
> This post is also avaivable at:
> http://grezlam.blogspot.com/2007/11/root-of-all-evil.html
> _______________________________________________
>

Regards,

Al Hopper  Logical Approach Inc, Plano, TX.  al at logical-approach.com
            Voice: 972.379.2133 Fax: 972.379.2134  Timezone: US CDT
OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) Member - Apr 2005 to Mar 2007
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/ogb/ogb_2005-2007/
Graduate from "sugar-coating school"?  Sorry - I never attended! :)