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    1: **Contents**
    2: 
    3: [[!toc levels=2 ]]
    4: 
    5: # jdf's wiki page
    6: 
    7: Note: This is not what I'm really working on, it's just a place to gather some 
    8: notes I took about some topics.
    9: 
   10: ## Guide migration
   11: 
   12: I'm currently trying to migrate the NetBSD guide to the wiki. The relevant
   13: files are these ones:
   14: 
   15:  * bluetooth
   16:  * build
   17:  * carp
   18:  * ccd
   19:  * cgd
   20:  * chap-exinst
   21:  * chap-intro
   22:  * cons
   23:  * dns
   24:  * edit
   25:  * fetch
   26:  * index
   27:  * inetd
   28:  * inst-media
   29:  * inst
   30:  * kernel
   31:  * linux
   32:  * lvm
   33:  * mail
   34:  * misc
   35:  * net-intro
   36:  * net-practice
   37:  * net-services
   38:  * pam
   39:  * preface
   40:  * print
   41:  * rmmedia
   42:  * tuning
   43:  * upgrading
   44: 
   45: Already done:
   46: 
   47:  * audio
   48:  * boot
   49:  * raidframe
   50:  * rc
   51:  * updating
   52:  * veriexec
   53:  * x
   54: 
   55: I started working on it in `guide/`, though the original proposal
   56: was to store it in `guide/netbsd`. However, whoever wants to change the
   57: directory can do so.
   58: 
   59: ## NetBSD flavoured
   60: 
   61: Currently, NetBSD is a very generic operating system, leaving almost all
   62: choices up to the user. While some consider this a strength, and it
   63: definitely is for people who know what they're doing, it's an obstacle for
   64: people who then have to setup *everything* by hand.
   65: 
   66: Creating a *NetBSD flavoured* distribution shouldn't be much work, and require 
   67: just minor sysinst modifications.
   68: It shouldn't be much work to just package distribution sets that already
   69: include a list of packages it installs and several preconfigured configuration
   70: files, maybe also some additional wrapper scripts.
   71: On the other hand, you could also add some package calls to sysinst and just 
   72: provide a list of packages you consider necessary.
   73: 
   74: My original attempt was to create a range of distributions for different 
   75: purposes, i.e. one for developers, one for graphic designers, one for servers, 
   76: etc. I don't know if this is the right way, esp. since some of the applications 
   77: are *very* specific. You cannot really provide a sane server default 
   78: installation except for some basic things like installing a vim, but that's all.
   79: My current idea is to provide just one, maybe named *NetBSD flavoured*, with at 
   80: least the following tools on board:
   81: 
   82:  * vim
   83:  * pkgin
   84:  * git
   85:  * fossil
   86:  * subversion
   87:  * some other important VCSes
   88:  * light-desktop (i.e., LXDE)
   89:  * screen (tmux is in base)
   90:  * some sane X terminal emulators
   91:  * a browser (Firefox?!)
   92:  * a mailer (Thunderbird? Claws-mail?)
   93:  * emacs (maybe too large?)
   94:  * perl
   95:  * python
   96:  * mplayer (when it's possible to pack it up)
   97:  * pdf viewer
   98:  * preconfigured bozohttpd running on localhost showing documentation
   99: 
  100: ## NetBSD documentation
  101: 
  102: In [this 
  103: post](http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-docs/2012/09/20/msg000295.html)
  104: I shared some ideas about what to do with documentation. Though much of it 
  105: was proven not practical by the replies, I still have one idea: Unify 
  106: documentation of NetBSD, and provide it all on a NetBSD system.
  107: 
  108: The first step is to merge as much content as possible into the NetBSD wiki. 
  109: Currently, the NetBSD documentation is very diverse in its distribution form.
  110: 
  111: Then, the Google Code-In produced some nice results, including a CGI for a small 
  112: markdown wiki to browse the wiki (if it was offline), and maybe even a terminal 
  113: markdown browser.
  114: 
  115: Finally, ship these two in a pkgsrc package or even with base, and provide a 
  116: small script which regularly updates the documentation.
  117: 
  118: ## NetBSD website
  119: 
  120: Currently, the NetBSD website is written in HTML and Docbook and requires many 
  121: tools to be edited and committed. The final goal should be to have just a small 
  122: homepage with a bit important information, but all the essential technical 
  123: information should be in the wiki. There's also a separate page for this: 
  124: [[htdocs_migration]].
  125: 
  126: Though the plan is currently to migrate *all* contents to the wiki, I don't 
  127: think this is the way to go. A wiki just doesn't leave a good impression.
  128: 
  129: ## NetBSD community and marketing
  130: 
  131: Just some thoughts... I think NetBSD has a very bad way of making technical 
  132: ecisions which are counterproductive from a marketing point of view, or just are 
  133: not used for marketing purposes.
  134: 
  135: The world has changed; nowadays, there's a growing *hacker community* which 
  136: consists of many people with an age below 30. They're just not used to the 
  137: flexibility of the old tools Unix provides, and to the flexibility you have 
  138: with a modern Linux.
  139: 
  140: There are repeating questions why NetBSD doesn't use git as its primary VCS, but 
  141: rather CVS. CVS *is* indeed a very mighty tool, but many people don't know. They 
  142: like git more because they can explicitly `push` with it (and don't know about 
  143: hooks in CVS or Subversion).
  144: The same holds for many other decisions.
  145: 
  146: NetBSD has a very... oldish view of how a community should be organised. On the 
  147: one hand, there are the developers, which are coding the project, maintaining 
  148: the website, maintaining packages, maintaining documentation, organising events, 
  149: organising NetBSD itself... and on the other hand, there are the users. They're 
  150: rather consumers than contributors.
  151: 
  152: The few ones which want to contribute are doing so, and after some time becoming 
  153: developers with the right and possibility to do everything, but there's nothing
  154: in between. There's only few community involvement overall, though there are
  155: many topics which don't require a developer status.
  156: I think breaking with the old habits and providing more community involvement 
  157: and community support is the way to go, but except for starting with a 
  158: user-editable wiki, I don't have many ideas how to do so.
  159: 
  160: ## NetBSD current
  161: 
  162: The same problem exists imho with the release cycle. The standard release cycle 
  163: of NetBSD is too slow for many people who use it privately (just see how 
  164: wide-distributed Arch Linux got), and tracking current is a rather obscure thing 
  165: with compiling things on your own, etc. ...
  166: And it's not well-documented. There *are* changes, but who knows them? Which was 
  167: the current version where tmux was imported? Etc.
  168: 
  169: Tracking these changes more centrally, and providing a nice way to install and 
  170: track a current installation would be a great benefit for NetBSD.