Random guys thoughts on the future of AntiX/MX gnu/Linux.
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 3:44 am
Just some thoughts on something mentioned in another thread, specifically @anticapitalista, seen you(him) around in MANY forums over the years, for a long time didn't know you were closely associated with AntiX. Though of course this is a free for all and all are welcome etc. Get the sinking feeling it's already obvious what the community sentiment is going to be but still it's a forum, so discussion is encouraged by all, on any relevant subject.
Some background on me .. started with Linux Mint 10, almost started with #! (Crunchbang) but the "may make your computer go crunch and bang" thing put me off for awhile. For me progression over the last almost 9yrs went like this ... LM10 4-5wks, #! 6 months or so, then minimal Debian netinstall from there onwards and that's never changing now. What this has to do with anything ? Errrrr, mentioned don't doubt BL (Bunsenlabs) is a solid Debian stable based distro regardless but when it comes to AntiX am hoping the people behind it have a change of heart on their stance on systemd. Have installed AntiX several times over the years, it's always been a great solid distro, though never used it for any length of time either. Still it fought it's way through the ranks honestly on it's own merits and the skills of the people behind the distro. As an ultra light gnu/Nix distro that'll blaze along great on low or high-spec systems. Earned it's place, earned it's userbase, no doubt learned many valuable lessons and gained experience and a wider skill-set as things went along, whereas BL inherited much of it from Corenominal's generosity in endorsing it and redirecting traffic from #! to them. Don't get me wrong wish BL success too.
Holding onto the past (SysV)is only sure to have a negative impact on a cool and useful distro like AntiX. For many, MANY reasons, many devs apparently aren't even bothering to ship init scripts for things anymore, Debian is NOT going to devote any major effort to support alternative init's either. Systemd is going to receive the lion's share of attention, energy and focus. As will upstream of them too. As things move forward it's going to become more apparent it's not a worthwhile endeavor to hang onto the past (an inferior init). What transfer init scripts from versions prior to systemd to support SysV ? Write them yourselves ? Can see all manner of odd borkage beginning to creep in on the distro's users as upstream further commits to moving forward with systemd. Just a general expression of encouragement to jump on the right horse now. Don't want to see a kickbutt distro crash and burn, or get marginalized, rather than hopefully gathering more support and a larger userbase. Haven't studied the history of MX as of yet, so not really sure about it. Only that it's getting PLENTY of good reviews.
ie: Devuan ... claim to fame forking Debian and systemd free, yeah right, people endlessly gripe about how old things in Debian stable are already, so what ? Getting a distro that's a stable release behind latest Debian stable and still misses out on all the benefits systemd brings ? No thanks, if were going to bother with such nonsense personally I'd just grab the archived EOL = end of life Debian releases and software before systemd came on the scene and use those. Not like that software stops working great, just because it's no longer supported but who wants to miss out on future developments and features ? Even though yeah, could run such a system almost indefinitely. Personally looking forward to a fully systemd based OS, no init scripts needing backwards compatibility at all (everything managed by uniform unit files), at least as few init scripts as possible.
Just a hope that AntiX and MX consider things fully and go from there. Though DANG SURE want to see AntiX stay on the scene and hopefully keep moving up in popularity. If I hadn't gone with #! back then, very likely could've been AntiX. Have much respect for the people behind the distro, their skills and tastes in configuring gnu/Linux. Also clearly MX has a BUNCH of kickbutt things to offer desktop nixers too. Just the thoughts/opinions of a random nixer. Not my call or decision(s) to make.
Have a good zombie movie paused on youtube but either way it goes still wish all the distro's mentioned in this babble (Antix, MX and Bunsenlabs future success.)
Some background on me .. started with Linux Mint 10, almost started with #! (Crunchbang) but the "may make your computer go crunch and bang" thing put me off for awhile. For me progression over the last almost 9yrs went like this ... LM10 4-5wks, #! 6 months or so, then minimal Debian netinstall from there onwards and that's never changing now. What this has to do with anything ? Errrrr, mentioned don't doubt BL (Bunsenlabs) is a solid Debian stable based distro regardless but when it comes to AntiX am hoping the people behind it have a change of heart on their stance on systemd. Have installed AntiX several times over the years, it's always been a great solid distro, though never used it for any length of time either. Still it fought it's way through the ranks honestly on it's own merits and the skills of the people behind the distro. As an ultra light gnu/Nix distro that'll blaze along great on low or high-spec systems. Earned it's place, earned it's userbase, no doubt learned many valuable lessons and gained experience and a wider skill-set as things went along, whereas BL inherited much of it from Corenominal's generosity in endorsing it and redirecting traffic from #! to them. Don't get me wrong wish BL success too.
Holding onto the past (SysV)is only sure to have a negative impact on a cool and useful distro like AntiX. For many, MANY reasons, many devs apparently aren't even bothering to ship init scripts for things anymore, Debian is NOT going to devote any major effort to support alternative init's either. Systemd is going to receive the lion's share of attention, energy and focus. As will upstream of them too. As things move forward it's going to become more apparent it's not a worthwhile endeavor to hang onto the past (an inferior init). What transfer init scripts from versions prior to systemd to support SysV ? Write them yourselves ? Can see all manner of odd borkage beginning to creep in on the distro's users as upstream further commits to moving forward with systemd. Just a general expression of encouragement to jump on the right horse now. Don't want to see a kickbutt distro crash and burn, or get marginalized, rather than hopefully gathering more support and a larger userbase. Haven't studied the history of MX as of yet, so not really sure about it. Only that it's getting PLENTY of good reviews.
ie: Devuan ... claim to fame forking Debian and systemd free, yeah right, people endlessly gripe about how old things in Debian stable are already, so what ? Getting a distro that's a stable release behind latest Debian stable and still misses out on all the benefits systemd brings ? No thanks, if were going to bother with such nonsense personally I'd just grab the archived EOL = end of life Debian releases and software before systemd came on the scene and use those. Not like that software stops working great, just because it's no longer supported but who wants to miss out on future developments and features ? Even though yeah, could run such a system almost indefinitely. Personally looking forward to a fully systemd based OS, no init scripts needing backwards compatibility at all (everything managed by uniform unit files), at least as few init scripts as possible.
Just a hope that AntiX and MX consider things fully and go from there. Though DANG SURE want to see AntiX stay on the scene and hopefully keep moving up in popularity. If I hadn't gone with #! back then, very likely could've been AntiX. Have much respect for the people behind the distro, their skills and tastes in configuring gnu/Linux. Also clearly MX has a BUNCH of kickbutt things to offer desktop nixers too. Just the thoughts/opinions of a random nixer. Not my call or decision(s) to make.
Have a good zombie movie paused on youtube but either way it goes still wish all the distro's mentioned in this babble (Antix, MX and Bunsenlabs future success.)