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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Distros spoiling KDE-GNU-Linux
From:       James Richard Tyrer <tyrerj () acm ! org>
Date:       2005-08-09 6:14:26
Message-ID: 42F849C2.6090508 () acm ! org
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Gérard Delafond wrote:
> Hi all !
> 
> I had a try with Mandriva 2006 Beta.
> 
> KDE is spoiled in many ways :
> -K logo replaced with a star in K-menu
> -K-menu replaced with Mandriva menu (mechanism to get K menu back not wroking)
> -Konqueror system:/ kioslave replaced with Mandriva advertising
> 
> I would like to send to Mandriva an official protestation, since the quality 
> of KDE is lowered (generating inconstistencies between the documentation and 
> the provided system).
> 
> My hope is Mandriva furnishes a clean KDE.
> 
> Do you agree with it ?

Well DUH!  Yes, Distros spoil KDE.  They also spoil Linux.  And, I 
presume that you, like me, want the pure real Linux.

But you need to realize what a distribution is.  The word 'distribution' 
has a specific meaning in the *NIX world.  This goes back to BSD which 
is (was originally) the Berkeley Standard Distribution of UNIX System 4 
(IIRC).  In this context, a distribution is an adaptation of something.

So, Mandriva is not really GNU-Linux.  It is the Mandriva OS which is 
based on Linux, GNU utilities, and other things -- it is their 
adaptation of it.

I don't really like this system since really Solaris, HP/UX, and AIX are 
distributions of UNIX.  This is a LARGE problem -- it is called 
fragmentation.

The solution to this is not to complain to Mandriva.  A Linux standard 
might be thought to help, but the LSB is not such a standard since the 
commercial distros do not want a standard because they must have produce 
differentiation.

To some extent Linux From Scratch is a solution but it has problems. 
They make a lot of changes to the stuff they install and I wonder if 
they are all a good idea.  You wind up with the same problems as with 
any other distro when you go to install something that isn't part of 
their distro.

What is the solution.  I think that a Gnu-Linux standard needs to come 
from the Free Software Foundation.  Yes, we already have Debian, but we 
need something more commercial -- an RPM based distro that is somewhat 
compatible with RedHat (but not the strange stuff).  If this existed, 
apps could be approved if they would install with only the configure 
parameter: "--with-fsf" which would reference a list of the recommended 
parameters.

Such a distro would not modify stuff except for system administration 
issues.

I would hope that if the FSF didn't want to sell this (except for 
CD-ROMs) that they could have a commercial distro available.  Perhaps 
then the GNU-Linux/FSF distro would be the one that was the standard for 
RPM based distros.

-- 
JRT

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