On 2013-09-30 08:45, Alan McKinnon wrote: > That is over-simplifying the problem and trivializing it. No-one ever > said the *everythign* in /usr is criticial for boot.
Is it really over-simplyfying it? How am I supposed to know whatever comes next? Someone ("upstream") *may* find it boot-critical to have 'Space Invaders' operational during boot. Yes, I say that somewhat *tounge-in-cheek* but the way things are going I'm not so sure anymore... > This is the problem: > > a. There exists code used at boot and early-user space time. It is > critical that this code is available when needed. I fully understand this and *if* I ever were to install code that I *knew* had this dependency I would take a serious look if I really *need* it and only then install it. But it would be up to me to make that decision and take the necessary steps. > b. One cannot predict with absolute certainty 100% of the time what > exactly that critical code is. In a general manner, no, you are correct... Also, see above ("Invaders")... (And if you don't understand what I'm trying to say, I'm saying this is as *arbitrary* as it gets - which you, like me, seem to be opposed to["arbitrariness"]) > c. many reasonable setups turn out to have such critical code in /usr, > and this cannot be reliably predicted in advance So I avoid things like Gnome, pulseaudio, systemd and similar stuff like the plague but I *still* shall be forced to use whatever is dictated by these things[1]? Don't get me wrong, if anyone wants to install Gnome or whatever then they should have the restrictions required by it. > Your second paragraph reveals that you beleive you already know > everything you need to have to boot your system. Now do the same for > every possible Gentoo user out there and have it work 100% of the time > in ALL valid cases. I *do* know everything I need to have to boot my system. I carefully select my hardware and I take particular care of how I set up my system thank you very much. But apparently my system is no longer deemed a "valid case"... so I'm obviously not a "possible Gentoo user" anymore. > Do you now see the problem and the fulls cope and impact of it? I've seen it since *long* before this thread started. The main problem is lack of resources (because of stupid decisions upstream which puts a burden on Gentoo devs) and I can't (currently) help much with that other than through monetary means (donations) but since Gentoo seems to go the way of the dodo for me (or "assimilated" if you will) then I will take my leave. For a while now it has only been inertia keeping me here. Or maybe a hope that things will get better... [1] And no, I'm not blaming systemd, Gnome or any of the other "pests" in particular for this... Best regards Peter K