Re: [GNU-linux-libre] Reviewing ConnochaetOS

[bill-auger]

regarding the suggestion on the website of using another distro - the
exact wording id this:

> "If you are looking for a libre Slackware x86_64 variant you are
welcome to use the x86_64 slack-n-free repo and have a look at the
FreeSlack project."

to be clear, this is not explicitly recommending anything non-free - the
"slack-n-free repo" is connochaetos's own repo which can be used by
slackware users as a 3rd-party repo and AFAIK "FreeSlack" is a fully
libre 3rd-party repo for slackware distros so i dont see that wording as
recommending anything non-free on the face of it - the tacet implication
however, is that one must be running another non-free slackware-based
distro in order to use these recommended 3rd-party repos - but i must
point out that this is implying nothing different than the advice you
will find on the parabola website, only with a different wording:

> "If you are running the GNU/Linux distribution of Arch, migrating to
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre is as simple as reconfiguring pacman to use its
repositories."

though the wording is different, the process and end-result could be
exactly the same - in both cases the user starts by booting a non-free
distro and then converts it into a free distro - of course though, it is
not so simple as adding new package sources - parabola also explains
that you must install the 'your-freedom' blacklist package (which
replaces or removes, and blacklists anything non-free) and keep it
installed in order to "parabolafy" your archlinux

so the follow-up i would suggest is firstly to verify that these repos
contain such a blacklist (that require replacement of the 64-bit linux
with a libre kernel - among other things) and then to plainly specify
for users on the website the process of adding the new repos and the
necessary blacklist packages with the clear warning not to remove the
blacklist package - but if, in the end, the user will still have a
standard linux kernel then this procedure should not be recommended at all

EDIT: when i wrote this, i did not realize that freeslack had a
standalone distro - so clearly they compile a kernel - but the main
question again is: "would the act of adding the slack-n-nfree and/or
freeslack repos to a running slackware, in itself REPLACE all non-free
software including the kernel? - or is there a blacklist package that
would do this job?" - if these conditions can be satisfied then it
serves as the path of least resistance for those who are currently using
a non-free slackwre - and surely anything that makes switching to a free
distro easier is desirable

----

regarding the debianized kernel itself - other users on this list are
far more knowledgeable on it's inner workings than i, so i wont add much
about that - except to say that if the only problem is some log files
that very few people will ever read then surely there must be a
workarounds ranging from simple to not-very-complicated - e.g. an init
script or cron task that scrubs the logs of naughty words, or patches
taken from linux-libre to supress them entirely