Debian flamewar (plus a "GNU/Linux" rant)

[Paul Iadonisi]

[sorry if this is a double post.  I posted with the wrong address]

On Tue, 2005-02-15 at 00:54 -0500, Benjamin Scott wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Feb 2005, at 6:43pm, pri.lugofnh at iadonisi.to wrote:
> >   Wait, I'm have a little trouble understanding the problem.
> 
>   I know you know this, but it's educational to state it explicitly:
> 
>   The problem is simply that binary compatibility is hard.

  Agreed, but it is most certainly not something that should be abandon
given the potential benefits.

[snip]

>   There must be something about this that is either hard to
comprehend, or
> hard to accept.  It gives a lot of RPM users trouble, it gives Debian
users
> a sense of superiority,

  Um, Ben ... I take exception to this.  By saying that it is hard to
comprehend or hard to accept your are implying that the problem is on my
end.  You may not agree with my estimates of what most problems with rpm
have to do with (i.e.: not real problems with rpm *itself*, but rather
with the way it is being used, or the way specific rpm packages are
built), but I'm sure, if necessary, I could gather some real statistics
that match my assertion that rpm is not the problem.
  I don't believe for a second that it has much to do with Debian users'
sense of superiority.  I've seen that sense of superiority displayed
many times (though not much on this list) and it's nothing more than
plain arrogance.  And a refusal to look at what the real problems are,
i.e.: not with rpm itself.

>  it's what makes BSD ports work so well, and it's
> largely responsible for making Microsoft Windows the unholy mess that
it is.  
> Clearly, there's a disconnect here.

-- 
-Paul Iadonisi
 Senior System Administrator
 Red Hat Certified Engineer / Local Linux Lobbyist
 Ever see a penguin fly?  --  Try Linux.
 GPL all the way: Sell services, don't lease secrets