More Politics in a Linux Forum

Posted on by Robin


My mistake: I imagined that was okay, in a forum about Linux, to chat about what’s happening to the Linux kernel.

Apparently, it isn’t. In a thread about someday making an “MX-BSD” operating system, I mentioned that the idea has merit in my opinion because of what is happening with the Linux kernel project lately. Russian maintainers kicked off the project (blame US sanctions or whatever), and then the Contributor’s code of conduct being outrageously weaponized in a new and odd way. Best explained in this video:

https://rumble.com/v5t1hjt-linux-code-of-conduct-board-officially-bans-developer-for-insufficient-grov.html

I consider these two examples as a threat to the freedom and quality of the Linux kernel and consequentially the whole Linux userland.

This was in MX-Linux’s “chat” subforum. Not a support question, not any specific category for tech support, bug reports, feature and package requests, etc. Just chat. Lots of whimsical and fun discussions go on there, from the great music threads to chats about how people use MX-Linux and antiX and even other Linux distributions to keep old computers running like new.

They have rules about political content there. It is strictly prohibited, and rightly so. Nothing would disrupt a great distro-community more quickly than talking about politics. It’s a good rule and it’s enforcement by moderators is important. But I wasn’t talking about politics, I merely referenced the fact that politics is influencing the Linux kernel project far too much, and I fear for the future of the project. So the idea of a “MX-BSD” has some merit in light of that.

Thread locked, PM sent to the offender threatening “further action” if I don’t edit the post. In other words, the moderators said, “

”

I didn’t edit the post. I regret nothing. They edited the post and kept the thread locked anyway. And probably banned me, I don’t know or care.

But if the Linux communities continue to cover their ears and sing “lalalalalala” while the Linux project destroys itself from political bovine excrement, and as long as they forbid people from warning the community of the very real danger Linux is in, the harder it will be to deal with when the bottom drops out.

It Ain’t Broke So Stop Fixing It!

Posted on by Robin

So this morning I’m looking at a web page when Seamonkey becomes unresponsive. Then I remember that it’s Tuesday, and that’s when I have set up the Xubuntu Updater to do it’s weekly update.

“Oh, fine, just let the thing run,” I think. “I’ll get back to the web later.”

If it’s just updating software, I have it set to just go ahead and put in the latest version of whatever software is installed. But if it’s a system update, then I have to enter the root password and authorize it. And sure enough, like almost every Tuesday since I installed Xubu 14.04, the Updater wants to update the Linux kernel again. Uh-oh. Every time it tells me I need another kernel update, I’m like

No, not again! This is terrifying stuff to me, even though most kernel updates are safe haven’t borked my system, it has happened before. And even though I can reboot to an older kernel, it leaves me wondering what was wrong with the old one that it needed to be updated anyway. If it’s a security thing, well, I guess that’s different. But most of the big scary kernel and firmware updates aren’t addressing some security vulnerability, they’re “improving” some existing feature or adding new ones.

I’ve got a lot of college course work going on and I need a rock-stable OS that isn’t gonna be suddenly slowed or crippled by the next “improvement.” Updates to programs like my browser and stuff are fine, but what “improvements” to vital stuff like the Linux kernel do I really need to keep this ancient relic of a perfectly good computer running? Older versions of Xubuntu were considerably faster than the latest version. I used to be able to multi-task without having things hesitate or grind to a complete halt. While I understand that some updated applications probably use more resources than the older versions, why do the kernel and firmware require more resources? And for cryin’ out loud,

It ain’t broke! So stop fixing it!

So there’s another advantage to using an OS that is based on Debian Stable. It’s stable! It doesn’t get “fixed” unless it needs fixing. Even as I write this post, the computer halts and balks and makes me wait until it finishes with some other invisible process it has going on in the background.

If I had a newer computer I’d probably switch to Linux Mint because the ingenious updater helps technophobes and newbies use it intelligently. But on this old relic, it’s gonna be MX-14, the wonderful AntiX/Xfce mixture built from Debian Stable with “the magic of Mepis” in support.

My distro-hopping days may be over, even after I upgrade this old hardware some day when I have money for that. And this blog may just get really boring after that, since it’s such a trouble-free system.