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New Linux Vision That Involves btrfs

posted by LaminatorX on Monday September 01 2014, @09:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the puttering-about dept.

boteeka writes:

Phoronix has an article up about some interesting ideas of Lennart Poettering about what could be a possible future for Linux:

Lennart Poettering of systemd and PulseAudio fame has published a lengthy blog post that shares his vision for how he wishes to change how Linux software systems are put together to address a wide variety of issues. The Btrfs file-system and systemd play big roles with his new vision. Long story short, Lennart is trying to tackle how Linux distributions and software systems themselves are assembled to improve security, deal with the challenges of upstream software vendors integrating into many different distributions, and "the classic Linux distribution scheme is frequently not what end users want."

 
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  • (Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Tuesday September 02 2014, @02:25PM

    by opinionated_science (4031) on Tuesday September 02 2014, @02:25PM (#88503)

    I too am a little apprehensive to charge ahead without a bit more development.

    But, I strongly suggest you all read the article. LP is clearly not a dull guy, and his article raises a very important point.

    The BTRFS solution he proposes uses de-duplication to permit the "system" being arbitrarily booted with different versions of software. This might have a radical effect on linux being usable for the desktop of non-techies as it will become much easier to have systems "a la carte" distros.

    And the points of systemd (that was not really visible until this current article) seem to simply allow the /usr to be separated from dynamic information via /etc/ /var etc.... and personal information /home etc...

    It really was a very interesting article...

    I am using Opensuse, and although it uses systemd, sysv still works just fine - transparently converted to systemd of course...

    Ad hominem attacks rarely add to the debate...

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  • (Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Tuesday September 02 2014, @05:35PM

    by digitalaudiorock (688) on Tuesday September 02 2014, @05:35PM (#88574) Journal

    Ad hominem attacks rarely add to the debate...

    The real attack occurring in all of this is the blatant intentional attack on choice by LP and everyone involved in this mess. Besides, have you read the way LP "debates" any of this stuff? It comes down to he knows everything and we know nothing...with his links to his endless lists of "debunked myths" etc...as if that's the end of the discussion.

    Even if/when his ideas or goals are valid, the level of criticism his approach is getting in the Linux community is unprecedented and growing...yet he seems convinced that none of it is valid. That is the reason the criticism tends to turn into attacks.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by opinionated_science on Tuesday September 02 2014, @09:42PM

      by opinionated_science (4031) on Tuesday September 02 2014, @09:42PM (#88661)

      my point was simply, that I am just as frustrated by the "dump" of a new system. But then again, I am not currently a developer, and opensuse and other vendors have plumped for it.

      I was responding to the fact I read the article about using BTRFS to *improve* the distribution system, and I think it actually makes very valid sense.

      If you have ever used the opensuse build studio, you would know what I mean. This allows you to essentially do what LP suggested. You can dynamically dial in a distribution.

      The point LP made about de-duping in BTRFS and volume management, is that the major similarities between vendors will get shared, and only the differences propagated.

      Having rebuild many packaged systems, I can see what this buys us. Validated packages trees (just like opensuse Tumbleweed/factory etc..) that have been tested together.

      But I too have been a bit negative about the systemd debacle - although it is stable on this system (opensuse 12.2) as is pulseaudio. I have had a few nightmares with SSD freezing and laptop behaviour. A good thing that opensuse 12.2 only uses systemd under init!!!

      Ultimately, if we want linux to be more mainstream, the current state of packaging is far from the idea. The average user simply needs to be able to get patches almost invisibly. Notice, that Micro$oft routinely breaks their users machines. Don't we want linux to be better?

      And again, constructive criticism is welcome. Being rude is just not nice, and doesn't help.

      But then again, I'm stil stuck on opensuse 12.2...