Beastie

[PhysicalChemist at aol.com]

Stephen, I quite agree that you have a good idea.  I do not mind the beastie 
myself, either, but I am working at an Episcopal Church (I am not yet clergy, 
but close to it) and some of my people would flip if they saw it, just as my 
wife did when she saw it (she is a Lutheran Pastor).  It would be really nice 
to have an easy way out of the beastie.  Say a blessing or something....
Bill Isakson
PhysicalChemist at aol.com  (well, yes, I am that, too.)

In a message dated 11/28/04 5:17:04 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
stephen at math.missouri.edu writes:


> It is with a little intrepidation that I ask this question, because I 
> sense that what I am about to ask might push some buttons, or perhaps 
> bring back some unpleasant memories of those who have asked what I am 
> going to ask in a less tactful manner.
> 
> I find that the beastie that appears at boot time with FreeBSD 5.3 
> mildly bothers me.  It is possible for me to edit boot/beastie.4th, but 
> this gets put back each time I do make installworld.
> 
> Would it be possible to add a variable "show_beastie" to be put in 
> /boot/loader.conf, which would default to "YES", but users could add in 
> show_beastie="NO" if they didn't want it, but only want the menu.
> 
> I am sure that this is a sensitive subject with you guys, because I know 
> that you have no intention of associating FreeBSD with satanism or 
> anything like that.  It is not my intention to apply any kind of label 
> of evil to you guys, indeed I find FreeBSD to be a very fine operating 
> system, and I use it all the time.  But the symbol which is commonly 
> associated with the devil does cause me some discomfort, and for 
> example, if I were to install some kind of server for my church, I think 
> that it would bother them as well.
> 
> I know that the the symbol of the beastie is strongly associated with 
> FreeBSD, and that it would be grossly unfair for me to ask for it to be 
> removed just because of my personal discomfort.
> 
> That is why I am proposing the solution above.  I think that it would be 
> easy to implement by anyone who knows Forth (presuming that the 
> loader.conf variables are known to the beastie.4th program), and that 
> this would not interfere at all with those who don't mind or enjoy the 
> beastie, but it would also help people like me in an unobtrusive manner.
> 
> Best, Stephen
> _______________________________________________