Bleeding Edge
One of the frustrating and irritating aspects of free/libre software is the continual breakage. The breakage is exhausting.
This is one reason I use Slackware at home. Reliable and stable. The BDFL is a master at both. He is not prone to the latest fads. He adopts technology deliberately and not at a whim.
Of late the Slackware development cycle has moved toward the 3-year point. This pace unsettles some users but not most. Most Slackers embrace the slow cycle and the stability.
One drawback with Slackware is enterprise support. There are missing components that enterprise users expect. Such as a lack of:
- PAM.
- Support for common central authentication methods.
- A large central repository with prebuilt binaries.
- Dependency checking in package installation.
- Unattended installs or imaging.
That all said, Slackware remains my happy feet choice for home use. I have grown so weary of the breakneck pace of free/libre software development.
Possibly the breakage I see recently is caused by the distro. I have accepted that quality control with the Ubuntu desktop leaves much to be desired. Yet Ubuntu is not unique. I have seen likewise with CentOS and Proxmox. Visit any respective discussion list or forum and the common complaint is the same: updating software breaks something.
Exhausting.
Rapid development and CI/CD need to die. Software development is little more than a playground. Developers win. Users lose.
Posted: Category: Usability Tagged: General
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