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List:       fedora-devel-list
Subject:    Re: F35 Change: "Fedora Linux" in /etc/os-release
From:       Kevin Kofler via devel <devel () lists ! fedoraproject ! org>
Date:       2021-03-11 12:38:13
Message-ID: s2d2vm$onl$1 () ciao ! gmane ! io
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Ben Cotton wrote:
> "Fedora" is the name of our project. Our general-purpose Linux
> distribution is "Fedora Linux". Let's refer to it that way in the OS
> itself.
>
> == Owner ==
>
> * Name: [[User:mattdm| Matthew Miller]]

I am opposed to this change, for several reasons:

1. This kind of rebranding will not work out out there in the real world. 
Just look at the KDE project for an example: Their main product (the desktop 
environment) has been officially called "KDE Plasma", or in short, just 
"Plasma", for years. Yet many people still call it just "KDE". (And we do 
not even have the luxury of telling people who think "Fedora Linux" is too 
long to just call it "Linux", the way KDE uses "Plasma", because "Linux" is 
the upstream kernel's brand, not ours.)

2. Linux is just the kernel of the GNU/Linux operating system. Considering 
that the by far most popular operating system using the Linux kernel is 
nowadays a completely different operating system (Android), it has become 
all the more important to make this essential distinction. "Fedora Linux" 
sounds like a Fedora-optimized kernel build, not an operating system.

3. I think this changes defocuses the Fedora Project from its main product 
(the GNU/Linux distribution) and will ultimately hurts its users (i.e., most 
of us on this mailing list). It is going to turn "Fedora Linux" into just 
one product next to EPEL (or "Fedora EPEL" as some people already call it, 
and your proposal will make that more common), Silverblue (or "Fedora 
Silverblue"), etc. This implies a focus shift that will divert resources 
away from the GNU/Linux distribution we use towards:
* RHEL and derived distributions, through EPEL (and ELN etc.),
* technology experiments such as CoreOS or Silverblue,
etc.
I would rather see Fedora focus on its main product again.

        Kevin Kofler
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