Debian, Slackware and Bling

v 0.1.3

After writing the first part of my "Debian Thoughts" post, I had the urge to diverge slightly and write about one of the interesting intrusions into the Linux world - Bling!

Increasingly when I read reviews of Linux distributions there is a seeming expectation that once the installation CD is inserted into the drive, the install routine will engage the ESP function and set itself up to the exact configuration that the user will like.  Naturally, Slackware and to a lesser extent Debian fail miserably in this test as the ESP package never makes it into the repositories. That Slackware has a "Gasp" TEXT install routine is enough to have some reviewers go wash their mouths out to eliminate the taste.

A confession .... yes, I have been observed on occasion to be the perfect candidate for a TV series called "Grumpy Old Men gone Troppo".  I would like to think that these people with challenged attention spans will mature in time, but as I grow older I become less optimistic.  Back to the article ....

The problem I see is that the reviewers have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved out of the box and they never realise what a disaster Windows is to install.  The review is really a review about how easy the distribution is to install by mind control.  I once read a review someone did of a Windows install, and it was not pretty.

Now, enough of giving a man a Fish for a meal, and about teaching him HOW to fish so he can eat forever.

Both Slackware and Debian are high quality distributions with great depth.  They have extensive documentation and can be used for almost any task.  It is a bit like Emacs v a standard text editor.  On first blush the standard editor is easy to use, however after a while, it plateaus whilst Emacs just keeps climbing as you learn all those new things it can do.

I fell in love with Debian the first time I met it a long time ago.  I was aware of Slackware but a little wary of its lack of "package management dependencies".  I was using Red Hat 7 for a while and one day after I'd been sucked into "RPM Dependency Hell" I chanced upon this review by Eugenia at OSNews.  By chance, I'd been looking at Vector linux on an older machine I had and had come to realise how really easy the init routines were to manipulate (how hard can it be to remove a comment character?). I was sold and had Slackware for  a couple of years until sometime just before Debian Etch was released.  Whilst I still loved Slackware, Debian was more suited to what I needed.

Which leads me on to the Slackware package management and in particular lack of dependency checking.  Who exactly decided that this was a problem?  It all seems pretty straight forward to me.  If you want to install a package onto Slackware 13.1 for example, then install the one that was prepared for your Slackware version.  And if it doesn't come with a note telling you if there are any additional dependencies then there is a big question mark over the head of the person who prepared the package.

Am I missing something?

Oh yes, I was talking about Bling, wasn't I?

I applaud people for trying to make Linux easier to use and understand, but as I've learnt from my Emacs adventure, there is only so much that can be achieved.  Flashy things are great for the surface, however these days you need something that has depth, is bug free and that will serve you well for a long time.  Many derivative distributions of both Slackware and Debian seem to try to "outbling" each other and as they fork, they introduce incompatibilities with the original graft stock.  We have to learn enough new things on a daily basis these days without having to re-learn the operation of our computer.

To me, the ideal derivative distro would be that it simply modifies a base.  An excellent example of this concept is the "GenieOS" that was based on Debian Sarge.  It used the Debian "preseed" functinality to present the user with an install that had useful customisations.  Any derivative distro that loses compatibility with its graft stock makes me seriously concerned.

I think I've imposed my views for long enough now, I hope it has been both entertaining and of value.  There are a couple of ideas I'll expand on later.

Later.