[RULE] Hi everybody

[DervishD]

    Hi Marco :)

 * M. Fioretti <m.fioretti at inwind.it> dixit:
> One important thing is to note that the fact that Raul builds his
> own linux stuff, rather than relying on Red Hat or any other
> pre-made thing

    The advantage is that I fully control my Linux box, and I can
optimize compilation to my likings. The cons are that I don't have a
package system, but this is not an issue for me, since I have my
installation scripts, so the only time I must make an effort to
install a program is the first time. Upgrading for me is as easy as
doing something like 'zsh /var/packages/nmap.install', for example.

> he helps us to do to unbloat the kernel can be shared by everybody.

    Since I don't use a distro, I've learned that the first source of
bloatware is userspace. Since I have my own init, my own mixer,
etc... my system runs faster and I have more spare memory for caching
and the like. If we manage to substitute bloated userspace programs,
we have won a lot: see kdrive, for example.

    My system, currently, fits in an 80min CD, complete, including
sources, software, documentation, etc... A complete image. That means
that, if I need to, I can run my box with just a 1Gb hard disk drive
(in fact, my 40Gb drive is occupied mostly by my mirror...), and I
think that it will run with 16-32 Mb of RAM.

    I currently have 512Mb of RAM, and some people says that I should
work with a desktop environment instead of my 5 virtual consoles, but
it's all about resources. With all that RAM and virtual consoles I
can run lots of GCC's, edit sources, play music while I do things
automatically, run my email and other 100 processes and still have
plenty of free RAM for caching. In fact, I rarely hit the 300Mb used,
with my system running at high loads. That gives me more than 200 Mb
for caching. My system, and three years old Duron, is fast as light.
But if I used KDE or GNOME, and Mozilla instead my good eLinks,
surely I will have a prettier system, no doubt, but then I no longer
could make an image to a 80min CD and my 512M RAM will be the minimum
to run a couple of instances of Mozilla and a couple of big X
programs without hitting swap. With my current setup, I don't know
what the heck is swap!!!

    But I don't want to blame X of being bloat, this is not true.
What I mean is that, compiling all by hand and carefully choosing
what kind of software you *really* need for your everyday use, you
can have a fast system without the need of much CPU power and RAM.

    I only upgrade my box when it broke. I only upgrade my software
when I get hit by a bug. I only install software I really need, and
if I can choose, I choose the less bloated if possible. And I
consider carefully the limit between 'full-featured' and 'bloated'.
Things like 'mutt' are full-featured. Things like 'emacs' are
bloated. Just my opinion, of course ;))

    And please excuse this long message, but I wanted to make clear
what you can accomplish just by carefully choosing userspace and
avoiding userspace bloat. Doing this you almost don't feel bloat in
the kernel ;))

    BTW, since I'm new in this list, could anybody tell me what the
current bloat-points in the kernel are, as far as RULE is concerned?
I have a tight kernel in my box (tight in the sense of tailored to my
needs without any unneeded burden in it), and I don't notice any
bloat in it, but I must confess that there are parts of the kernel I
have never used, like the framebuffer, etc... so I would like to know
where the work needs to be started. Thanks a lot in advance :))

    Raúl Núñez de Arenas Coronado

-- 
Linux Registered User 88736
http://www.pleyades.net & http://raul.pleyades.net/


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