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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Opinion: Distributions that only change non-system pre-installed software or desktop environment should instead be packages or scripts (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The majority of Linux distributions out there seem to be over-engineering their method of distribution. They are not giving us a new distribution of Linux. They are giving us an existing distribution of Linux, but with a different distribution of non-system software (like a different desktop environment or configuration of it)

In many cases, turning an installation of the base distribution used to the one they're shipping is a matter of installing certain packages and setting some configurations. Why should the user be required to reinstall their whole OS for this?

It would be way more practical if those distributions are available as packages, preferably managed by the package manager itself. This is much easier for both the user and the developer.

Some developers may find it less satisfying to do this, and I don't mean to force my opinion on anyone, but only suggesting that there's an easier way to do this. Distributions should be changing things that aren't easily doable without a system reinstall.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (23 children)

Suppose kubuntu, ubuntu, lubuntu, xubuntu were packages to be installed on top of debian.

How would you do that? Debian would not create and maintain a "core debian" variant just to be installed then receive the extra packages. Would the *ubuntu packages replace, instead of add on top of default debian packages?

Then where would the updates come from? Both debian and *ubuntu repositories?

What about dependencies? Would debian have to coordinate with all *ubuntu maintainers (and they too, between them) for compatibility tests every time debian needed to update one of its packages? Or they'd just update and *ubuntu would have to scramble to release fixes for what had been broken?

Not to mention convenience; would you have to download debian, download *ubuntu, install debian, then your *ubuntu?

Why not then package the "core debian", with the tested component versions that work with the *ubuntu packages you're downloading? Hey, and what about script the installation to install both "core debian" parts and then *ubuntu automatically? That's an innovative idea indeed. No, wait, isn't it sort of what they already do today?

It's not like there's a Linux headquarters with a centralized organization that releases all multiple distros just to feed the hobby of distro hoppers. Distros are maintained and packaged by different people, and it's already a lot of trouble to keep each part in sync.

[–] cdombroski 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ubuntu has significant differences from Debian so it wouldn't make much sense to be able to install it as a "flavor" of Debian. However, *Ubuntu are pretty much already metapackages on top of regular Ubuntu. So instead of having different installers for each one, you could just make it an option during install and provide an easy means to add/switch other options later

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, if all *ubuntu variants were maintained by Ubuntu maintainers. But since that's not the case, again, it would be complicated for releasing.

Many distros already offer window manager options when installing, but that's inside the same distro, not bits and pieces of different distros with possibly different release cycles and dependencies.

One distro may not wish to be "absorbed" by the other.

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