[SWLUG] Linux Distros and/or FreeBSD

[Steve Hill]

On Wed, 16 May 2007, Steve Anderson wrote:

> This is true, but I preferred the centralised distro-run repository of
> Debian and Ubuntu rather than it being a 3rd party site's repository.
> Also I had a problem where I'd got an RPM from one place and then
> inadvertently got a completely different build from somewhere else and
> descended into the third circle of dependency hell. (I doubt this
> would happen now, seeing as this was my first drink from the Linux cup

There is rarely any need to use 3rd party repositories for Free software 
under Fedora in my experience - almost everything you need is in Fedora 
Core or Fedora Extras (which are being merged into a single Fedora 7
repository at the end of the month).

> at home.) I can't remember what it was but I think it was probably
> MPlayer or something like that.

Mplayer has questionable legality and thus won't ever appear in the 
official Fedora repository.  I've found Livna and (to a lesser extent) 
FreshRPMs to work very well for non-Free software.  AT-RPMS, on the other 
hand, seems to make a habit of trying to completely replace official 
Fedora (Core/Extras) packages and the result is invariably a complete 
mess.

This is a fundamental difference of philosophy between Fedora and Ubuntu 
and you, as the user, need to make a decision as to what is important to 
you.  Fedora's aim is to provide a system consisting of Free software - 
you'll never find non-Free stuff in Fedora and therefore have to go to 
external repositories for such software.  Ubuntu, on the other hand, has a 
primary objective of making stuff easy for the user, even if that means 
compromising on the Freedom ideals and therefore they have no problem 
bundling non-Free software (and even have a sort-of "official" repository 
for software like Mplayer which may be illegal).

Basically, make your choices based on what you find important - noone 
should be judging you for choosing one distribution over another for 
legitimate and informed reasons.  However, I do get tired of seeing 
uninformed "Fedora is crap because it won't play my DVDs" comments.


-- 

  - Steve
    xmpp:steve at nexusuk.org   sip:steve at nexusuk.org   http://www.nexusuk.org/

      Servatis a periculum, servatis a maleficum - Whisper, Evanescence