[MiNT] MiNT - Made By Internet Distribution

["Guido Flohr" <gufl0000@stud.uni-sb.de>]

Hi,

a couple of days I have uttered similar ideas here, but with a different
subject.  Maybe I should summarize my thoughts again.

Many good ideas, interesting approaches, promising projects for the
improvement of MiNT die because MiNT lacks both a powerful infrastructure
and commercial interests in it.  This is not only annoying but also scares
away potential users.  For example if you want to install a progamming
environment you have to grab the compiler from ftp.a.edu, the linker from
ftp.b.edu, the debugger from ftp.c.com, the foo library from ftp.foo.org
and the rest from here, there and everywhere.

For other systems you can update your distribution at regular intervals
but for MiNT you have to constantly look around to get recent software,
documentation or other necessary stuff. But for MiNT there is no recent
distribution and I doubt that a single person or a small group could
maintain a valid distribution for a longer time.

When I came across rpm - the Redhat Package Manager - I had the strong
feeling that this program could improve the situation.  The program
manages software packages in both binary and source form in a manner
completely independent of the particular operating system, architecture or
distribution.  It allows you to cleanly install, uninstall and update
packages, it has quite powerful database capabilities which means that you
keep the overview about your system, its base functionality is very easy
to learn and - it runs under MiNT, well, at least it runs on my machine
and I can make it available to the rest of the world.

Most of the work with a MiNT distribution is to keep track of the
numerous software packages and rpm fulfils this task perfectly. It seems
to be an ideal tool to build a distribution around it but the distributor
still has to compile and package all software.

My idea was to start some sort of "made by internet" MiNT distribution.
This MBI distribution could make the core part of other distributions, if
it ever evolves into a fully bootstrappable distribution, even better. If
not, it's still extremely practical.

This distribution should have a standardized directory structure so that
we have a common base to work on.  It should also be a goal to package new
software as soon as it's available, for example if a new version of the
GNU shell utilities (which are vital for a working MiNT system) is
released, there should be a staff member of the distribution team
responsible for compiling, packaging and uploading the update.  

>From other distributor's point of view it should be possible to simply ftp
the MBI archive, burn it on CD and spread it - or even nicer (and rpm
supports this feature) to package only the stuff necessary for
bootstrapping and then get the latest software packages directly from the
net.  But this would require a fixed address of the distribution and also
a fixed and reliable directory structure on this site.

So who could maintain such a site?  I have several ideas - please don't
get me wrong, I don't expect anybody to really support it, just a
proposal.  First, we already have atari.org which is very nicely designed
but (I think) not fully operative.  Furthermore it is ATARI.org, not MiNT
but maybe the MiNT stuff could be better integrated there.  Then we have
Woller systems which produce N.AES and thus have a vital interest in MiNT
development.  There is also Milan computers but they are not as focussed
on MiNT as N.AES is.  Then I remember Brent Thirsk who probably has no
commercial interest in MiNT but who was enthusiastic enough to already
provide ftp download area to MiNT.  Finally we have Fishpool who already
maintain this list but also for mere enthusiasm (at least I think that
they don't benefit from MiNT in a commercial sense).  Maybe there are also
universities or other organizations who could help to host such a project.

Of course it wouldn't be strictly necessary to have a real MiNT internet
domain but for those people that have commercial interest in MiNT it is
probably also a goal to have a site that is dedicated to the promotion of
MiNT.  But what I want is of course not a commercialization of MiNT but a
joint venture of the different enterprises that have interest in MiNT and
the developers.  It's a vital interest of all involved parties to have an
infrastructure that allows to concentrate joint efforts, all with the goal
of constantly improving the system for the benefit of the hopefully
growing user community.

I don't want to start another abstract discussion here.  If you think this
is a good idea, please think of some way to realize it.  We don't have to
scare the world with a huge MiNT server next month.  Some tiny grain of
sand to initialize the condensation would already be great.  But we should
really turn the mess that MiNT is currently in into some system that is
attractive not only for freaks.

Ciao

Guido
-- 
http://stud.uni-sb.de/~gufl0000
mailto:gufl0000@stud.uni-sb.de