Re: [GNU-linux-libre] Re: any Free BSD variant?

[Rubén Rodríguez Pérez]

> Thanks for the encouraging words.

I will add some skeptic ones.
I just want to be the "critical voice", to add points of view. So if I
sound a little harsh on you, that is not my intention :)

> 
> I think the list's name is misleading, because there are GNU systems
> based on other kernels

This list is just for _fully_free_ systems, and as by now there are only
GNU/Linux distros in the list, this name was proposed.
http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html


> in the
> free world there is no clear distinction between a developer and a
> user, and that's a good thing.

This is not true. And I think that it is a good thing like it is.
You are clearly a developer: you compile your own emacs and you are
bothered about the lack of debugging symbols. You are a hacker. And that
is great, but most users are not interested in becoming hackers, they
just want to read the paper, talk with their friends, caption some
cats... And this is also ok!

I like the idea of a free distro being a way for a user to become a
developer: include compilers, code, debuggers, doc... but as a
complement of a non-technical-user oriented system.

Being yourself a hacker is probably why you also think that GNU is an
usable system by itself. Sadly it is not, we need lots of external
programs to have a distro. The only way to have a GNU system, -and it
would be something like OpenBSD: simple, hard and small- is to write a
package manager and finish the HURD. And that would be a waste of time.



> The "open source" inertia is huge, and there's no way out of the
> current situation taking into account how the decision-making process
> in Debian is done.


Is true that Debian is not as free as we'd like, but they are the closer
we have, so I think we should take it easy with them, and try to help
their community. There are plenty of crappy distros full of non-free
stuff to criticize, and we always press harder on Debian.


> 
> > Basing on debian is a first step. I am not a developer but the
> > people who currently maintain gNewSense assured me that using debian
> > as a base will make gnewsense easily to maintain and upgrade.
> 
> Fully agreed.

And another reason to keep working with them.

> 
> > We should create a gnu community repository 

This is interesting. Something like the PPA system in Ubuntu, where
packages from trusted hackers can be easily added to the official repos.

> > 3) Start to apply what Waver Doganov has just proposed: switching
> > packages to the GNU alternative, one by one.
> 
> This was just one (albeit central) point of my plan, and it's not
> something to be taken lightly.

I think that this is not a good idea. If a program is free, then it
needs no replacement. Why should we replace, let's say. openssh -which
has become an standard- with a new and unsupported GNU app? 
There are lots of non-free software that needs a replacement, that's a
much more urgent issue.

And by the way, you cannot replace them all as I said previously.
Is there a point in replacing all but the kernel and the xserver?