The beastie boot menu.

[Paul Robinson]

On Tue, Nov 30, 2004 at 05:25:09AM +0100, Rahul Siddharthan wrote:

> Another example is packaging of the base system.  This does not mean
> turning BSD into Red Hat, it means being able more easily to remove
> optional components, and having less junk (like stale header files)
> lying around after an installworld.  People have posted patches
> on FreeBSD lists to register parts of the world in the pkg database,
> but there's no chance of it becoming mainstream.

There is a chance of that becoming mainstream because it's something
lots of people are trying to work out how to make happen. There is even
a bsdtar that doesn't need to use /tmp when extracting, specifically to
make package management at install time nicer to manage. No scrub that,
it's not that it makes it nicer, it's that is makes it *possible*.

Anyway, seeing as whenever I ask any users how they're finding 5.3 now
they've upgraded the stock answer is "pile of shit" I think it might be
a good idea to let people get on with fixing the basics before we start
the pkg management/installer bikeshed again. :-)

As for the boot menu... it should have stayed IMHO, simply as it was
better for new users than what has replaced it or what preceeded it. I
personally got used to it, and now I'll have to adjust and re-educate
the juniors on how to single-user a box for no real clear benefit. 

I have to admit that recently, upgrading and using FBSD in a production
environment has started to feel a little - just a *little*, mind - like
a fight instead of a pleasure. It feels like somebody is driving
backwards on various decisions. It's odd - can't put my finger on it.

Still, I'm sure it'll get better. Unless everybody has decided to run
off and play with OS X instead. But let's not do that one again. :-)

-- 
Paul Robinson

http://www.iconoplex.co.uk/ 
"All I know is I'm not a Marxist" - Karl Marx