Shallow Thoughts : : 17

Linus vs. GNOME, part deux: Linus Sends Patches

Remember a bit over a year ago when Linus Torvalds slapped GNOME for removing all their configuration options and assuming a "users are idiots mentality"?

Here's the latest installment.

Linus, challenged to "start a constructive dialog" by using GNOME for a while then giving a talk on his experiences, went them one better: he sent in patches to fix the usability problems he experienced.

An excerpt from his posting to the Desktop_architects list:

I've sent out patches. The code is actually _cleaner_ after my patches, and the end result is more capable. We'll see what happens.

THAT is constructive.

What I find unconstructive is how the GNOME people always make *excuses*. It took me a few hours to actually do the patches. It wasn't that hard. So why didn't I do it years ago?

I'll tell you why: because gnome apologists don't say "please send us patches". No. They basically make it clear that they aren't even *interested* in fixing things, because their dear old Mum isn't interested in the feature.

Do you think that's "constructive"?

and, later,

Instead, I _still_ (now after I sent out the patch) hear more of your kvetching about how you actually do everything right, and it's somehow *my* fault that I find things limiting.

Here's a damn big clue: the reason I find gnome limiting is BECAUSE IT IS.

Linus is back, and he's pissed. Go Linus!

Read more details in the linux.com story, or in Linus' actual email in the Desktop_architects list, where you can also follow the rest of the thread.

Tags: linux, gnome
[ 21:05 Feb 17, 2007    More linux | permalink to this entry | ]

Autologin under Upstart

The simple auto-login without gdm which I described a year ago stopped working when I upgradeded to "Edgy Eft". As part of Ubuntu's new "Upstart" boot system, they've replaced /etc/inittab with a new system that uses the directory /etc/event.d.

There's a little bit of documentation available, but in the end it just came down to fiddling. Here's how it works:

First, use the same /usr/bin/loginscript you used for the old setup, which contains something like this:

#! /bin/sh
/bin/login -f yourusername

Then edit /etc/event.d/tty1 and find the getty line: probably the last line of the file, looking like

respawn /sbin/getty 38400 tty1

Change that to:

respawn /sbin/getty -n -l /usr/bin/loginscript 38400 tty1

That's it! If you want to run X (or anything else) automatically, that works the same way as always.

Update: This changed again in Hardy. Here are the details. And then changed again in Karmic Koala: the file has moved from /etc/event.d/tty1 to /etc/init/tty1.conf.

Tags: linux, ubuntu, boot
[ 13:37 Feb 17, 2007    More linux | permalink to this entry | ]