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Debian turns 30

Debian turns 30

Posted Aug 18, 2023 20:51 UTC (Fri) by philh (subscriber, #14797)
In reply to: Debian turns 30 by donbarry
Parent article: Debian turns 30

I don't think I'd give "democracy" credit for Debian's success.

In fact, democracy is quite often the source (or at least a symptom) of problems in Debian.

Whenever people get the impression that they can make things happen by voting, disappointment follows[1].

If 60% of people are indifferent to a problem, and a majority of those that are left think it should be solved in one way, but the only person that seems to be motivated enough and/or knowledgeable enough to do the work prefers another, voting about it is unlikely to make the world a better place.

[1] I meant that in the context of Debian, but on reflection, it may be generally true ;-)
--
That said, Debian is a wonder of the modern world -- by the assumptions that most people have about how things work, it's obviously impossible for it either to have come about, or for it to flourish, and yet it goes from strength to strength.

Long may it continue :-)


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Debian turns 30

Posted Aug 25, 2023 7:40 UTC (Fri) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] (2 responses)

That's a reasonable hypothesis, but given the success and longevity of Debian, my default approach would be to assume that Debian's democratic aspects are fine.

There's grumbling and complaints around most votes, but Debian continues to work, so it looks to me like grumbling and complaints are not enough of a marker of something being a problem.

Debian turns 30

Posted Aug 25, 2023 9:46 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

> There's grumbling and complaints around most votes, but Debian continues to work, so it looks to me like grumbling and complaints are not enough of a marker of something being a problem.

In other words, the peanut gallery is working fine :-)

Cheers,
Wol

Debian turns 30

Posted Sep 10, 2023 1:47 UTC (Sun) by yoe (guest, #25743) [Link]

Eh.

philh is Phil Hands, who has been a Debian developer for longer than me, and I joined in 2001.

Rather than a hypothesis, this is someone speaking from experience. And fwiw, I agree with Phil's assessment of the situation.


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