Slashdot Mirror
Ask Bruce Perens About Linux and Open Source
A lot is going on these days, ranging from the endlessly amusing SCO soap opera to plenty of mostly positive news about Linux and Open Source adoption by both corporate and government users, not to mention an increasing number of commercial applications being ported to Linux. And, of course, LinuxWorld is right around the corner. Bruce Perens is certainly as appropriate a person as any to help us get a handle on the current (and possibly future) state of Linux and Open Source. We'll send him 10 of the highest moderated questions, and post his answers as soon as he gets them back to us. As usual, one question per post, please, and don't bother asking questions that can easily be answered with a couple of minutes' worth of online research.
Whether I fail it or not, it was fun to play the game.
The opposite of progress is congress
Who died and made you pope?
I have been involved in the marketing (dirty word I know!) of software and hardware to non-technical people for a number of years. The consultancy group I work for numbers many of America's top blue-chip electronics and software corporations among its clients, I have over 11 years experience of marketing, and 4 years experience of software development (VB) and systems administration (NT 3.51), in addition to a marketing science qualification from one of America's top business schools - so it's safe to say that I know what I am talking about when it comes to computers and marketing.
I have been keeping an eye this forum for quite some time now, as part of my daily intelligence gathering, I find the robust exchange of views, and technical arguments make an interesting diversion from some of the other corporate bullshit I have to deal with in my working day. I also read corporate intelligence reports from the Gartner group, Forrester, the Meta group, and Olsen Online Business Intelligence Services. $lashdot has often proved to be far more accurate when it comes to the technical details,and I am often amazed at the incredible levels of intelligence and insight shown by its readership, some of whom demonstrate a knowledge of Linux and Operating systems far in advance of anyone I have ever met, even in the IS department of major corporations. For this reason, I feel I should contribute my 2c to the debate about the future direction of Linux and the whole Open Source movement in general.
I feel I can do my bit for the Open Source community by offering (free of charge) some of my hard-earned knowledge straight from the bloody trenches at the front-line of tech-Marketing. Normally I would be paid over $4000/day for my perspective, but $lashdot - this one's on me. You people can think of it as my small and unworthy attempt to "give something back" to the Community.
Why Linux/Open Source has an image problem in major US Corporations and what the community can do about it. Like any movment, political or religious, Open Source/Linux has its Leaders, High priests and Gurus. These high profile individuals represent the public face of the organization. Like it or not, these people are associated with the product in the eyes of the buying public. One of the first things the Linux movement must do in order to gain acceptence by middle-America and Joe-and-Jean Sixpack and their 2.4 kids, is to develop what we in the Marketing profession call a "Happy Face".
When Joe Sixpack drives past a McDonald's, he associates it with the smiling face of Ronald McDonald the clown,and quality food served quickly. When he is choosing a collect-call company, the smiling face of Al Bundy (of TV's Married with Children) springs to mind, and when he thinks of fried chicken in large capacity bucket-like containers, it is the image of the happy-go-lucky avuncular Colonel with his associations of good old Southern hospitality that sticks in his memory. (In marketing terms this is known as a "positive association". Because the image puts the consumer into a "buying-receptive" mental state).
Linux/Open Source lacks any kind of "Happy Face". Now this in itself is not a problem, were it not for the fact that Linux has several extremely high-profile advocates who are the exact opposite of "Happy Faces" in that they invite negative associations into the consumers head and put him/her into a state known by Marketers as "passive-aggressive sales-message rejection" (In layman's terms they don't want to buy the product).
Now, I will not lower the tone of the debate by naming names. I will give a few brief profiles and community members will know who I am talking about.
In reverse order of harmfullness we have the laconic, dour nothern European. Not known for his sense of hunor, and with far too many nights spent coding when he should have been out partying he creates an image of Linux as the OS of choice for "fr
... SCOap Opera
By now, anyone who is even remotely related to an IT-type position has heard about Linux, and has most likely used it, if only to see what all the hype is about. However, GNU/Linux is not the only "free" Unix type OS available. FreeBSD [http://www.freebsd.org/] and its cousins, NetBSD [http://www.netbsd.org/] and OpenBSD [http://www.openbsd.org/] are all offshoots of BSD UNIX, a commercial UNIX also known as Berkeley Software Distribution. This article will help you learn more about FreeBSD, its differences from Linux, and it will ease a potential migration process.
/opt while Red Hat puts in the /usr folder. To make matters even worse, RPM doesn't recognize programs that are compiled from source. So if you have the latest and greatest Qt compiled from source, RPM doesn't even know it exists if you try to install KDE from rpm's.
Migration Guide Part I
Unlike Linux which uses the GPL license, the BSD family uses the BSD-style license. To summarize the differences between the two licenses in one sentence, the GPL requires any changes to the source code to be made public and be licensed under the GPL as well. The BSD license has no such requirement, any changes can be kept proprietary.
There are several major differences in the way FreeBSD and the major Linux distributions work. This article will step you through what I consider to be the biggest 'gotchas' that I encountered when switching my desktop from Linux to FreeBSD.
Although there are people who will argue this point, the term Linux refers to the kernel, nothing more. The applications that you use everyday on your Red Hat or Debian box are utilities added on by the respective distributions. FreeBSD on the other hand refers to the OS as a whole. FreeBSD is itself the kernel, as well as the basic applications needed to use a computer, such as the copy and move commands. This difference results in there being several distributions of Linux, such as Mandrake, SuSE, Debian and Slackware. Anyone who has used both Mandrake and Debian can tell you that there is a world of difference between them. There is only one FreeBSD. My FreeBSD is the same as the FreeBSD that you have -- except for differences between versions FreeBSD is FreeBSD.
Three of the biggest Linux distributions, Red Hat, Mandrake, and SuSE use the RPM package manager. RPM handles installing, upgrading, uninstalling, and dependency checking for programs installed on those OSes. Although it does check for dependency errors before installing a program, RPM does leave a lot to be desired. For example, it cannot fetch other RPMs that are needed to solve the dependency errors. I know of are least 3 projects that solve this, urpmi, Debian's apt-get which by the way isn't remotely related to RPM and is a 'Debian only' feature, and a hybrid between RPM and apt-get. So unless you are willing to use one of the methods stated above, you have to manually find and download the required RPMs. Sound easy? Well it does until you try to manually install gnome or upgrade XFree from RPM's. Even after you find the correct RPMs, if they are for SuSE and you're running Red Hat, chances are they still might not work.
Each distribution of Linux is slightly different, and where they differ the most is in the file system layout. I'm sure that most everyone has heard about SuSE putting KDE in
FreeBSD uses what are known as "packages" to install, uninstall and upgrade applications. The 'pkg_add' command is used to install a package that you have manually downloaded to your computer. You can also run it with the '-r' flag followed by a package name, and it will remotely fetch it from the Internet, as well as anything it requires to run. But the real beauty of FreeBSD's packages is in the ports tree. The ports tree is simply that -- a hierarchy of applications that have been ported to FreeBSD. Each directory contains a Makefile and any patches that are required for that particular app to compile and run on FreeBSD. For example, if I want to in
A failed FP should definately not be getting modded up. Please mod the parent down, regardless of his questions!
The Open Source movement, otherwise known as 'Free Software', has been a topic of considerable debate on the Internet's most controversial site. The majority of this debate has centered around the technical merits of the software, with the esteemed editors argueing against adopting Linux by employing the full depth of their considerable intellects, and the other side hurling death threats and similar invective. This has allowed many who would not otherwise receive quality information about Open Source software to be made aware of many of its ramifications, but one issue has been left alone: The overt racism that is deeply embedded in the movement.
Allow me to explain.
Alan Cox; Richard Stallman; Bruce Perens; Wichert Akkerman; Miguel DeIcaza.
What do you see in this list of names? Are there any African-Americans on it? Absolutely not, none of those names sound like one a self-respecting black person would have! No Maurice, no Luther, no Lil' Kim. There are many other lists such as this, you can see one here. Flip through each page, do you see anything other than white faces? Of course you don't, because Open Source and its adherents are ardent racists and they absolutely forbid access to the sacred 'kernel' by any person of color.
Lets look at another list, this time a compendium of the companies using Linux. Are there any black owned companies on that list? Nooooooo. How about these companies? They all have something to do with Open Source software, any of them owned by an African-American? No again. Here is an extensive collection of photographs from a LUG (Linux User Gathering) meeting, more can be viewed at that link. What is odd about these pictures, and every other photograph I have ever seen of a LUG meeting, is that there is not one single black person to be seen, and probably none for miles.
More racist overtones can be found by examining the language of Open Source. They often refer to 'white hat' hackers. These 'white hats' scurry about the Internet doing good, but illegal, acts for their fellow man. In stark contrast we find the 'black hat' hackers. They destroy the good works of others by breaking into systems, stealing data, and generally causing havoc. These two terms reflect the mindset of most Linux developers. White means good, black means bad. Anywhere there is black, there is uncontrollable destruction and lawlessness. Looking further we see black lists that inform other users of 'bad' hardware, Samba, an obvious play on the much hated Little Black Sambo book, Mandrake, which I won't explain except to say that the French are notorious racists. This type is linguistic discrimination is widespread throughout the Open Source culture, lampooned by many of its more popular sites.
It is also a fact that all Unix 'distros' contain a plethora of racist commands with not so hidden symbolism.
It can hardly be coincidence that the prime operating system of choice of the 'open source supremacists' - Linux, features commands which are poorly disguised racist acronyms. For example: 'awk' (All White Klan) , 'sed' (shoot nEgroes dead), 'ln' (lynch negroes), 'rpm' (raical purity mandatory), 'bash' (bring a slave home), 'ps' (persecute sambo), 'mount' (murder or unseat nubians today), 'fsck' (favored supreme Christian klan). I could go on and on about the latent racist symbolism in Linux, but I fear it would take weeks to enumerate every incidence.
Is there a single unix command out there that does not have some hidden racist connotation ? Suffice it to say that the racism pervades Linux like a particularly bad smell. Can you imagine the effect of running such a racist operating system on the impressionable mind ? I don't have to remind you that transmitting subliminal messages is banned in the USA, and yet here we have an operating system that appears to be one enormous submliminal ad for the Klan!
One of the few selling points of Open Source software is that it is available in many different languages. Browsing through the list I see
Stick with it and you'll see what I'm looking for:
----
SCENE -- The courtroom, 17-Oct-2002.
PLAINTIFF: So which is it?
1. If you try to use something in Linux and it fails, you are stupid because you didn't try to
fix it and make it work.
DEFENDANT: Yes.
PLAINTIFF: 2. If you try to make it work and it fails at every attempt, you are stupid because
you are trying to use a tool that doesn't meet your needs and your only reason for trying was
to prove that it doesn't work.
DEFENDANT: Yes. At least we seem to understand each other.
PLAINTIFF: I tried to get my digital camera working with Linux. To assume that I did it for any
other reason than to be able to use the camera with Linux makes you an arrogant prick. But we
already knew that, didn't we?
I find it very funny that you can't admit that software installation on Linux is a huge pain in
the ass. I tried to install Everybuddy with MSN Messenger support and had the same problems.
Failed dependencies at every step. If this system is supposed to be good for development, why
doesn't it include the libraries needed so you don't have to waste a lot of time searching the
net every time to try to anything? This is a real problem and it will prevent most users from
attempting to replace Windows. Why can't the programmers include the required files in the
package. They could offer a bare bones version and an all inclusive version. They could, at a
minimum, include links to required packages so you don't have to search for them. Why don't the
distros include the common libraries needed?
DEFENDANT: Very often they do. The problem here is that you are using pre- compiled binaries.
These expect your system configuration to be sufficiently similar to those that they were
compiled on in order to install.
PLAINTIFF: So precompiled binaries are basically useless unless it was specifically compiled
for your system? Kinda forces you to compile everything yourself if you have any hope of
getting it to work. We have already established that you can't expect the distro managers to
compile every package out there for each version they release. So it is pretty much up to the
end user to learn to compile software, find the source for the package they want and waste time
getting a functioning system. What we are saying is you are pretty much stuck with whatever
came with your distro if you aren't willing to learn to compile programs and search the net for
missing files.
DEFENDANT: Oftentimes, the libraries are present on your system, but the names may vary
slightly. You could try to force the install and see if it works anyway with the --nodeps
--force options added.
PLAINTIFF: Brilliant suggestion. NOT!
DEFENDANT: Many times, the issue is simply a matter of you having libfoo.so.1 and the binary is
looking for libfoo.so.2. Both of these are just links to libfoo.so, and so you can merely
create the link and viola! Problem solved.
Another option is to simply download the source for the app and just compile it specifically
for your system. This way the dependancies are resolved according to your specific
configuration and you get the benefit of added performance.
There have been many times that I've attempted to install a binary and it complained about
failed dependancies; but when compiling and installing the source for the exact same
application on the exact same system, it went through without a hitch.
PLAINTIFF: And you guys like to bitch and whine about DLL's under Windows? Failed dependencies
is pretty much a given when trying to install something on a Linux system. I have rarely had a
problem with DLL's, especially now that XP supports multiple versions.
DEFENDANT: Of course, you have no desire to actually resolve issues like Pete Goodwin, you just
want to be able to bitch about them.
PLAINTIFF: Rappy, you are so full of shit. Linux has some
Asteriod Impact
Question : Has Microsoft EVER released an OS that had a data loss bug?
Answer : NO!
Read on.
Data-loss bug afflicts Linux
Programmers have found a bug in newer versions of the Linux operating system that, under common circumstances, could cause systems to drop data.
The data-loss bug afflicts the newest 2.4.20 version of the heart, or kernel, of Linux. The new kernel was released Nov. 28 in Linux companies' updates but is not yet a part of their packaged products.
Although the bug was reported while the 2.4.20 version was still in testing, it wasn't fixed until early Friday morning, two weeks after final release.
To counteract such tracking problems in the future, Linux programmers have begun using more formal bug-tracking tools. Bugs and security problems are big issues today because of the ever-wider use of computer networks and the increasing importance of corporate data. Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Linux fans and others all are keenly aware of the publicity benefits of crash-proof code, and the perils of problems.
Data-loss problems are dire--companies devote much of their computing budgets to keeping their information from vanishing into the ether.
However, the risks of the recent Linux data-loss bug are reduced because it only appears in a particular circumstance: First, an administrator has to select an unusual mode for Linux's ext3 file system software, which controls how data is stored on hard drives; then the administrator must disconnect the file system where the data is saved. In that case, all data that should have been saved on the hard drive in the previous 30 seconds could be lost.
The data-loss problem is "not very severe," said programmer Andrew Morton in an e-mail interview. It was Morton who pointed out Sunday that the bug hadn't been fixed and who posted a patch Friday.
Morton added that the bug is contingent on using ext3 in "a specialized mode, which in practice is rather slow. It doesn't offer any realistic advantages over the default...mode, and nobody uses it much. This is why the bug lay dormant for three months."
Red Hat, the top Linux seller, said its customers are only affected by the bug if they downloaded Red Hat updates that incorporate version 2.4.18-17 or later of the Linux kernel. The company made those updates available for versions 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 8.0 of Red Hat Linux. Its Advanced Server product isn't affected.
The most recent updates from No. 2 Linux seller SuSE also are affected, the SuSE said. However, SuSE by default uses a different file system, ReiserFS, that isn't affected.
The data-loss problem was originally found by programmer Nick Piggin, who said it may have affected all 2.4.19 kernels in addition to version 2.4.20. Morton, however, believes Piggin's first bug report in July for preliminary versions of 2.4.19 is likely a different--but related--bug that's harder to trigger.
The real, I don't know, but this one for sure.
:-)
:-)
BTW, I wonder if he got layed off by HP because he's been a loooong time on slashdot ?
Finally : it is a dupe (answers here), but a fairly late one
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Some modbombing craphat is trying to drive-by moderate the parent with Overrateds. Counteract his cowardly bullshit!
My question:
How did I become so cool?
-Bruce P.
I just heard some sad news on talk radio. Comedian Bob Hope died Sunday of pneumonia. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
Umm...uh...hey...uh...what's up?
See ya at the glory hole!!
I am junis, the famous farmer from afganinstan with a internet connected commodore 64. Even as i type this I'm running contiki desktop. I have an unwanted female horse for sale. For the low low price of 50 USA Dollars, you can have her for your horse fetish. For more details, goto irc.prison.net #gnaa on IRC and type /msg penisbird I would like to buy your horse.
Anybody that knows anything knows that the AmigaOS is the shiznit.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Actually, I have too agree with you...My Mom is in the same boat. Windows is definitely a more "dumbed-down" OS, to actually use Linux productively, other than web surfing or email, you need more technical ability. But for the masses your comment is right on!
As a frequent Slashdot poster, if given the opportunity to ask yourself a question in a Slashdot interview would you ask yourself a question, and if so, what would that question be? If not, would you save your mod points to moderate up other questions that you wanted to be asked, and if so, which questions would you moderate up?
Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
how come I never, ever get mod points. It's been like well over a year. Am I missing a setting somewhere?