X-Original-To: alpine-devel@mail.alpinelinux.org Delivered-To: alpine-devel@mail.alpinelinux.org Received: from mail.alpinelinux.org (dallas-a1.alpinelinux.org [127.0.0.1]) by mail.alpinelinux.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 97EEEDC0175 for ; Wed, 22 Jul 2015 12:46:36 +0000 (UTC) Received: from st11p00im-asmtp002.me.com (st11p00im-amstp002.me.com [17.172.80.96]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mail.alpinelinux.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 6B4D2DC00EC for ; Wed, 22 Jul 2015 12:46:36 +0000 (UTC) Received: from st.ilet.to (st.ilet.to [31.193.133.175]) by st11p00im-asmtp002.me.com (Oracle Communications Messaging Server 7.0.5.35.0 64bit (built Mar 31 2015)) with ESMTPSA id <0NRW00LAC3HL9G30@st11p00im-asmtp002.me.com> for alpine-devel@lists.alpinelinux.org; Wed, 22 Jul 2015 12:46:35 +0000 (GMT) Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 12:46:33 +0000 (UTC) From: ScrumpyJack X-X-Sender: nicholas@st.ilet.to To: Alpine Devel List Subject: [alpine-devel] On the relevance of alpine-standard.iso Message-id: User-Agent: Alpine 2.20 (LNX 67 2015-01-07) X-Mailinglist: alpine-devel Precedence: list List-Id: Alpine Development List-Unsubscribe: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII X-Proofpoint-Virus-Version: vendor=fsecure engine=2.50.10432:5.14.151,1.0.33,0.0.0000 definitions=2015-07-22_04:2015-07-22,2015-07-22,1970-01-01 signatures=0 X-Proofpoint-Spam-Details: rule=notspam policy=default score=0 spamscore=0 suspectscore=0 phishscore=0 adultscore=0 bulkscore=0 classifier=spam adjust=0 reason=mlx scancount=1 engine=7.0.1-1412110000 definitions=main-1507220210 X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV using ClamSMTP Poking around the alpine ISO, there seems to be a healthy selection of packages in there geared toward the assumption that the user will be building a switch, a router, or a voip appliance, SIP or something similar. This seems to show a bias towards network appliance building, and is the result of a choice in packages to include, and that choice implies a preference, or a bias. This would be fine if network appliances was all Alpine Linux was good for, but, of course Alpine Linux is much more than that. The obvious question is why exclude or omit this or that packages? In addition, that makes the ISO an edited version of the ever growing Alpine Repositories. To avoid this sort of limiting experience, or bias, or edited selection, I wonder if there is a use of a large Alpine Linux ISO build/distribution. At risk of sounding like a sales person, the alpine-mini ISO, which contains the essential packages to boot a basic operating environment, set up wired/wireless networking and an ssh server, allows the user enough to go find the exact packages she needs to build her environment and choose the software she'd like. In addition, it was pointed out to me that perhaps packages in an ISO might deter some from connecting to, or setting up, a repo, which has implications on keeping up to day with security patches. Would there be value in ceasing to provide the current Alpine Linux "standard" ISO, and replacing it with the Alpine Mini ISO (and dropping the mini label)? Apologies for the lengthy, sometimes eye-rolling email. Jack --- Unsubscribe: alpine-devel+unsubscribe@lists.alpinelinux.org Help: alpine-devel+help@lists.alpinelinux.org ---