In my opinion the installer is the last reason people do not use Gentoo. Look at the other distros out there without a graphical installer. One of them is one of the most popular distros out there.
Gentoo experiences a difficulty pulling in more users for many reasons. Firstly there is a large majority that do not understand Gentoo's package system. They know they have to compile things. They may not even be aware that emerge exists. On top of this, they feel it takes an exorbitant amount of time to install things. Then, they ask what the benefits to this method are. They do not understand the benefits that use flags provide or the time they save. They see it as not worthwhile. I often hear "that makes sense in an embedded environment but that's it." People need to understand the benefits of Gentoo more clearly. A clear depiction of the philosophy and goals (which in my mind is fairly evident already) helps with this. We need to as users explain the benefits of Gentoo vs the so called perceived cons. On Sat, Jul 25, 2015 at 2:57 PM, Mick <michaelkintz...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Saturday 25 Jul 2015 17:35:51 Stroller wrote: > > On Fri, 24 July 2015, at 3:35 pm, J.Rutkowski <j...@pancakebungalow.com> > wrote: > > > On Fri, Jul 24, 2015, at 07:56 AM, James wrote: > > >> Rich, I'll be practical. Gentoo needs an installer program, like most > > >> other distros if you want your rank_n_file users to entice new users. > > >> … > > > > > > I absolutely think that an installer is necessary to attract > > > newcomers and keep them. > > > > I recall similar discussions back around 2004. > > > > Gentoo was fashionable for a while then, and we had plenty of new users. > > > > It wasn't for the lack of installer that they went away - fashions > change, > > but at the end of the day it's only a certain kind of niche user who > finds > > Gentoo suits them long term. > > > > If you create a slick GUI installer, then users will only be disappointed > > with they finish installing their KDE-Gentoo desktop and are told "oh, > > package installs and system upgrades must be done in a terminal, and > > sometimes you have to do stuff to work around these Portage blocks". > > > > "Why doesn't Gentoo have a nice graphical package manager?" the n00bs > will > > cry, "just like all the other distros!" > > > > What will happen when you meet that request? Complaints that, after > > clicking the button in the GUI package manager, Gentoo takes much longer > > to install Firefox that Ubuntu does. > > > > If you want to attract to Gentoo the kind of people for whom a graphical > > installer is important, then IMO these are the first things you need to > > address. > > > > Stroller. > > Others mentioned it and Stroller finessed it: > > There are different use cases and Gentoo does not fit nicely in all of > them. > > A GUI installer, or automated install script will suit noobs for some of > whom > Gentoo is not an appropriate distro, leading to disappointment and > potentially > bad press. In any case, I think that Sabayon would probably suit them > nicely > if they want to quickly dip their toes into a Gentoo-based distro. > > A GUI installer, or automated but configurable install script, will also > suit > people who need a quick VM, or cloud set up. Arguably, they should already > know how to create their own VM image to suit their requirements - it's the > first off that will take some time to think through, thereafter they will > have > their own stage-4 VM image. Nevertheless, I accept that it will offer some > convenience in terms of speed. > > Then it is all other Gentoo users for whom the current handbook is what > they > learn or expect as the norm. If they are new to Gentoo, the handbook acts > both as a filter for users to whom Gentoo is unsuitable and as an > educational > experience for those that stick with it. > > I am not entirely sure that people who click on three buttons to get a RHL > cluster going would be flocking to Gentoo. I mean, fine they got their > Gentoo > cluster up & running. What then? Will they be compiling software on the > cluster for each and every update? Or will they be running the updates on > a > test/pre-prod server and then update the cluster using the precompiled > binaries? > > Ultimately, as Rich suggested, whoever has an itch will scratch it and > scratch > it in a way to provide the tools they need for their specific use > case(s). As > long as Gentoo does not try to imitate and duplicate the *buntu & RHL's of > this world I would have nothing to complain about. Personally I am rather > happy for Gentoo being as it is and this the reason I've been using it for > 12 > happy years. :-) > > -- > Regards, > Mick > -- The irony is that Bill Gates claims to be making a stable operating system and Linus Torvalds claims to be trying to take over the world. -- seen on the net
