[squeak-dev] Images in Linux distros was Re: Cog.deb

David Corking lists at dcorking.com
Thu Jun 19 16:43:48 UTC 2014


Tim Rowledge wrote:

> Aside from the advantage of convincing linux release weenies to accept our image file (they’re just images folks!)
> you get a free screen preview picture to remind you what image this is. It’s a bargain!

That was the funniest sub-thread I have read in a while(*)

Our Squeak package maintainers at the distros are squeakers, and
understand exactly what the image is about.
No doubt they also understand that the Squeak image bootstrap problem
is isomorphic to the bootstrap problem
that a self-hosted C compiler has.(&) When they compile gcc on their
own build server, they gain only an illusion
of trustworthiness.

Maintainers have the problem of persuading some inhabitants of the
gatekeeping mailing lists, who have the understandable but wrong view
that freedom requires that everything that is not C should be
bootstrapped from C.($) Sometimes the debate reaches stalemate, and
thus, for example, squeak-vm is in Debian main, but etoys is in
Debian's non-free repositories.

Non-Linux users might not be aware of the context of the thread. While
All In One Squeak packages are great for end user distribution, the
major distributions of free software (GNU/Linux, *BSD) need separate
packages (debs and rpms for example) - one for the VM, and one for
each image (Squeak, Etoys, Scratch etc.)(%)

Thus a Cog.deb that builds from a C source tarball fits right into the
culture, and becomes an easy way to get Cog screened and eventually
accepted to Debian, and thus Ubuntu, Mint and so on.

David

* - I probably need to get out more.
& - http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html Reflections on Trusting
Trust, Ken Thompson
$ - http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-December/156068.html
% - To be true to the philosophy, I think they should also distribute
a current VMMaker image, or VMMaker Monticello version, as the
translated C tree is not in the 'preferred form in which a programmer
would modify the program'. http://opensource.org/docs/osd paragraph 2.
That is a battle too far.


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