Re: GNUstep and distributions...

[Uli Kusterer]

In article <mailman.2272.1100238607.8225.discuss-gnustep@gnu.org>,
 Jeremy Tregunna <jtregunna@fuqn.ca> wrote:

> Either way, I honestly think work people who have time should help out 
> a bit more (this coming from someone who hasn't yet submitted anything 
> of any use to the project, but it's on my TODO for when I have more 
> time). Ie., finishing up AppKit, fixing bugs, etc. If more attention 
> would be focused on actually making GNUstep more than a developers 
> plaything, it would make more sense to shoot after the aforementioned 
> (previous paragraph).

Well,

 I personally am definitely proof of the theory that, if it was easier 
to get GNUstep installed, you'd have more people helping you out. You 
may still remember the odyssey of getting my copy of GNUstep installed 
(I admit, OS X may be a harder target than others, simply because it's 
rather exotic, and not really the platform where the typical GNUstep 
user can be found). Once I had it installed, I submitted two patches 
pretty quickly.

 So, I'd be in favor of getting it into distros, as long as it's 
understood that it isn't labeled as a desktop system, but rather as a 
geek package of libraries for development. I think it would severely 
hurt GNUstep if it ended up in a distro as a desktop a la KDE or GNOME 
before Backbone is closer to being finished. GNUstep is not a desktop 
(yet!).

 I do think it should eventually become one, but it isn't one now, and 
marketing it as one will only make people think it was broken or 
under-featured, and such a thing is hard to get rid of again.

 So, maybe having it only in the geek distros is actually a good thing, 
but it should include PC and Gorm as a minimum, and I think including 
the examples would also be smart. That way we'll reach the people we 
need most right now: developers willing to help get GS finished.

Just my $0.02,
-- Uli
http://www.zathras.de