[lug] Interesting news

[Jeff Schroeder]

Paul wrote:

> I'm curious about what is going on here. Obviously there is some
> business consolidation in the Linux distributions market.

I agree, and think some interesting fallout from this consolidation will 
be that more users will look toward "rolling their own" Linux systems.  
If Red Hat and SuSE are (potentially) changing their business models, 
and businesses don't feel comfortable not knowing the roadmap for the 
next year, it seems logical that they will consider creating custom 
solutions.

Linux from Scratch (www.linuxfromscratch.org) is the most elementary 
starting point, while distributions like Gentoo (www.gentoo.org) offer 
a slightly higher-level way to run the show yourself.  About a year ago 
I built my first LFS system, and over the span of six months evolved it 
into an entire custom distribution.  It's very server-centric, and 
certainly doesn't have the whiz-bang installer or cool desktop stuff 
that a commercial distro does, but it does exactly what I need and I 
can manage "package creep" however I please.  No worries about what RH 
is discontinuing, or what Novell might do next spring.  And I download, 
compile, and install security patches immediately... no need to wait 
for the new SSH RPM.

I'm curious if others on the list have done the same, or are considering 
it.  While it's a great way to take control of a Linux computing 
environment, it's admittedly fraught with pitfalls to those who don't 
have the {time, money, expertise} to start from scratch.  And, sadly, 
it fragments an already fragmented market by introducing YET ANOTHER 
version of Linux (I have to explain to my clients what I've done, and 
get them comfortable with it).

Thoughts?

Jeff