Re: When can we expect a version 1.0 of the GNU Operating System?

[Felipe López]

On 22/11/14 07:29, Brandon Invergo wrote:

Hello Brandon,

> I'll interject with some miscellaneous thoughts on terminology:
> 
> - *the* GNU system, as such, exists without any specific action
>    necessary.  The GNU system is, simply put, a collection of free
>    software that can be used together to give rise to a completely free
>    Unixoid operating system.  That is, the system as a whole arises as
>    an emergent property of all of those software packages interacting
>    with each other.  The software need not be exclusively distributed by
>    GNU and plenty of important pieces are not.  Thus, RMS's original
>    goal, I think, has long been satisfied, even if some things have not
>    gone as originally planned (eg the kernel situation).

I know that the GNU system exists as a collection of packages. And I
also understand that those packages don't need to be exclusively
distributed by GNU: they are free and people can exercise their four
freedoms.

> 
> - distributions of the GNU system are specific efforts to, well,
>   distribute the GNU system as defined by a chosen set of components.
>   The specific components may vary from distro to distro, but the system
>   that arises from their combination is still GNU.  Some, lamentably,
>   include some very non-GNU components, but despite those warts and
>   festering lesions, are still essentially GNU systems.


I see most of those distributions as the results of projects that are
different in essence (freedom) to the GNU project. Ubuntu and other
similar distributions of the GNU components don't represent well the
goals of the GNU project.

There are distributions that follow the GNU Guidelines for Free Software
Distributions. Some of them may exist because there was no button on
gnu.org for potential users to download the GNU Operating System. Some
of them may exist for other reasons, like having a specialized system
for audio production. I'm not against having several distributions of
the GNU system. That will happen anyway, even if an Official GNU
Operating System is released.


> 
> - I don't know if it makes much sense, then, to talk about an "official"
>   GNU distribution.  We would essentially be saying "these are the
>   components that we deem to be strictly necessary to produce the GNU
>   system".  But we know it isn't true: many of those components have
>   perfectly valid free software alternatives; swapping those components
>   for alternatives would still produce a free GNU operating system.
>   e.g. swapping openssh for lsh would still result in a free GNU
>   system.


If you see the GNU Operating System as an actual operating system that
you are about to release for people to download and install, you, as a
developer, have to choose some components over others. I don't see that
as an obstacle to release an Official GNU Operating System. Some of
those components that are not installed by default can still be packaged
and be available for users to install if they prefer them over the defaults.


> 
> I would argue that rather than talking about producing The Official GNU
> System, we should be talking about producing a *reference* distribution
> of the GNU system.  The Guix guys are effectively doing that in my
> opinion and I think it's great.  Now, instead of us saying "these are
> the strictly necessary components", we're saying "here is, to us, an
> excellent way to put together the GNU system" with an extra advantage of
> being able to highlight some GNU Project packages that don't normally
> get included in the other distros (again like lsh vs openssh).
> 
> How does that sound?  Am I on my own in thinking this way?
> 
> -brandon
> 

In my view, a reference distribution is not necessary because the
Official GNU Operating System is or would be the reference.

I can see only benefits on having an Official GNU Operating System:

New and potential users would benefit because it would be more clear if
you can just go to gnu.org, click and download the system.

Existing free distributions will benefit too. Some of them will
disappear in favor of the Official GNU Operating System and their
maintainers and users will make the GNU Project stronger. Some other
distros will change to derive directly from GNU (which means less
freedom issues and less work for them).


-- 
Luis Felipe López Acevedo
http://sirgazil.bitbucket.org/

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