I want to find this peace, too.
It wasn't for nothing
121–130 of 165 posts
Re: It wasn't for nothing
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. And then I think that I need to take the project further, make it bigger and more attention -getting, and document it more, and push it in social media more. But I'm not going to do that. So there is some associated pain. But it's diminishing with time. And the attention my project got is definitely greater than zero. And the internet is forever. So there is a kind of peace.
social media is such a trap. It makes you feel like you're getting praise or criticism, but you're not getting either because it's just a way for your critics and followers to showcase their own egos. It eviscerates the actual work.
But we must talk about our projects. What's the best option?
Re: It wasn't for nothing
#123I like the blog post and I'm happy for the author, truly. But Guix doesn't sit well with me, and I rarely see this discussed: The Guix zealotry will be their undoing, and frankly this is where Nix shines. I can use Nix at work, at home, with family, with vendors, with binary blobs, on macOS. The community tries very hard to help. With Guix, sure, there's stuff like nonguix, but take a gander at this from the nonguix…
Back when the idea of “open source” came around, I thought the same. That the ideals of Free Software were too idealistic, and open source is pragmatic and commercially friendly. Fast forward fifteen years and I am finding that Richard Stallman was right. Despite the commercial success of open source, I have found that usefulness does not always lead to a healthy society. (And I am aware that, zealotry and fanaticism…
Put another way:
There is idealism guided by reality. This is the basis of Naturalism generally.
And there is idealism centered on what people can created that reality as less important then the social implications of that idealism. This is the basis of the Dialectics including Marxism.
I like FreeBSD and the general pragmatic Linux generally for the idealism founded on reality.
I dislike GNU often for the idealism void of thinking about reality.
Re: It wasn't for nothing
#124I'm not a developer but I totally relate to this. Most of my creative pursuits are weird, niche, sometimes avant-garde. If I didn't make my artifacts, nobody else would, and it is so intrinsically rewarding to see my visions instantiated, even if they pale in comparison to my first imagining of what they might be. Because I have fringe-y interests, most people don't necessarily "get" it. (Probably true of everyone el…
I've made some game mods that have touched thousands of lives. Way more than my OSS projects though haha But it feels good in retrospect
Any mods you're willing to share here?
Re: It wasn't for nothing
#125[deleted]
Re: It wasn't for nothing
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you considered the idea that it might just not be for you? There are plenty of workflows that don't require proprietary software, and adding proprietary software breaks a lot of the point of Guix, along with throwing more work onto the backs of maintainers. You wouldn't expect a bunch of people giving away a vegetarian cookbook to respond super well to, "This is all fine and great and all, but how can I adapt th…
Who is it for then? Everyone on the planet I have ever interacted with uses proprietary software daily. What are these mythical workflows? Am I only supposed to use Guix when it's convenient for their philosophy? nonguix is proof that adding proprietary software doesn't break diddly squat. It's all just gatekeeping. They could still achieve all their goals without being zealous, whether you believe me or not.
I really can't understand your attitude here.
Guix makes it trivial to add other channels, such as nonguix, providing first-class packages. You can easily add proprietary software to Guix. It's just not part of Guix, because that's not the point of the project. Your "non-mythical" workflows that depend on proprietary workflows are not in any way impeded.
You are projecting zealotry and gatekeeping (both terms with strong negative connotation) onto the project. And I must say that your attitude does nothing to advance your point, however deeply buried in hostile rhetoric it may be.
As to mythical workflows without proprietary software: I'm not using proprietary software. Not on my laptops, my home network, my servers at work. Not because I'm some sort of "zealot", but because I simply have no need for it.
It's really quite odd to observe how worked up you get in response to seeing a community that is content with not using proprietary software.
Re: It wasn't for nothing
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does it bother you if people don't discover your work and don't use it? I've always wanted to do something of value that lasts, and many times I was discouraged by lack of interest from other people.
Not op - answering personally. The moment you have an audience for something it significantly changes the experience. Doesn't matter if it's music, development, cooking... if other humans are involved on the receiving end it makes it different. For a lot of us, we're very protective of our creative endeavors. And, lots of the time the journey we're taking is one of vulnerability (learning, creatively extending oursel…
> If/when this stuff I created dies with me that's OK. I'm a fart in the wind anyway, and I don't care about silly things like "legacy" - I just need to create stuff to optimize and improve the world around me. And, sometimes I create stuff just because it feels good. It's a selfish endeavor sure, but I'd have it no other way.
I was going to reply but you summed it up nicely. I have been polishing away on a dozen or so personal software projects, but I never release them publicly, don't use GitHub, don't even blog about them. I'm at a point in my life where I don't need/crave feedback or validation or attention or whatever drives people to constantly need moar audience for their blog and moar downloads for their software. I write software because I enjoy the act and it solves problems that I encounter.
Not releasing means I don't have pressure to keep them compiling with the latest SDK, I don't have pressure to port them to Windows, I don't have to respond to requests from users or other developers, and I can feel free to use the codebase(s) to learn and explore the boundaries of my knowledge and skills, without public scrutiny and bikeshedding.
Re: It wasn't for nothing
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had the impression, Guix was a package manager and GuixSD the OS?
It is all just Guix now. It's both package and systems manager.
The OS is called "Guix System". Without the system part it's just "Guix".
Both variants are very similar. The Guix tool comes with a "guix system" command, which lets you build Guix System containers, container images, system images, qemu VM images, qemu VM scripts, etc. The only command that won't work on a "foreign" distro is "guix system reconfigure" --- but that's only a "guix system init /" away ;)
Re: It wasn't for nothing
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do not at all resent the attitude. I resent that Guix is presented as a serious alternative to, say, Nix, within this community. I will be the first person to appreciate the efforts of folks working on Open and Free Software, it's really noble. The world would be a better place if all our software was Free, but that's not the world we live in today. I wish them all the luck and success in the world, but wanting ado…
I picked out your comment and didn't mean that to reflect personally on you or assume your deeper intentions, sorry. Yours and few other comments seemed to really jar against what felt like a very sincere and open post by the OP. I'm sure you do appreciate the efforts while simply disagreeing with the ideology. Fair enough.
I appreciate the response, no hard feelings. Your take was fair. I definitely don't want to dog pile on what is otherwise a warm spirited submission, but something about Guix is grinding my gears! In hindsight, this submission is the wrong forum for such a rant.
Re: It wasn't for nothing
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, they are not right about the attitude. We just don't do proprietary software and so discussing it on our channels is off topic and distracting. "Go fuck yourself" is much stronger, much ruder attitude. On the #guix IRC channel you'll often get a private message to direct you to other channels where it's fine to discuss proprietary software and how to make it work on Guix.
I'm not attempting to construe that the attitude is GFY. From the perspective of someone who is enjoying this tool and ecosystem and wants to do something, but the community is trying very hard to enforce beliefs that are incompatible, it sure tastes like I'm being told to go fuck myself. Does it feel good to you when you ask a question and the reply you get is "this isn't for you"? Requiring a private reply on an IR…
"enforce beliefs"? No. Proprietary software simply isn't part of the project and discussing stuff that are besides the project goals on project channels is not welcome.
You don't have to belief anything to use Guix or participate in the community. It's an odd sense of entitlement to demand that others accept, accommodate, and welcome your ideology in dealings with you.
I also find it strange that you ascribe "this isn't for you" (a comment made here by strangers) to the project. No wonder then that you interpret entirely harmless community guidelines as if someone told you "to go fuck [your]self".