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Comment by Karrot_Kream

3 years ago

Fast software that nobody uses helps nobody. Slow software that everyone uses is, well, slow. So I'm curious: how many people use your software? I get that this topic is like nerd rage catnip but if people actually want to help users, then they need to meet users where they're at. And if "marketing" is what's needed, then maybe it is. Software is generally built for humans after all.

Don't get me wrong, All of my servers at home run Void Linux and use runit. Pretty much anything that runs on them is snappy and they run on 10 year old hardware but still sing because I use software written in Go or native languages. But remembering the particulars about runit services and symlinks is something I forget every 3 months between deploying new services. Trying to troubleshoot the logger is also a fun one where I remember then forget a few months later. Using systemd, this all just comes for free. Maybe I should write all of this down but I'm doing this for fun aren't I?

The reason users don't care that much about slow software is because they use software primarily to get things done.

6 comments

Karrot_Kream

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gavinhoward  3 years ago

You are absolutely correct.

So my new projects are not out yet, but I will market them heavily once they are.

One of them is an init system specifically designed to be easier to use than runit and $6, while still being sane, unlike systemd. Yes, I'm going to focus on ease of use because as you said, that matters a lot.

However, I do have a project out in the public now. It ships with the base system in FreeBSD and also ships with Mac OSX. It is a command-line tool that lots of people may use in bash scripts.

Is that widespread enough?

Also, one reason people adopted mine over the GNU alternative is speed.

  • barbs  3 years ago

    > However, I do have a project out in the public now. It ships with the base system in FreeBSD and also ships with Mac OSX. It is a command-line tool that lots of people may use in bash scripts. Is that widespread enough? Also, one reason people adopted mine over the GNU alternative is speed.

    Which one is that?

  • Karrot_Kream  3 years ago

    > One of them is an init system specifically designed to be easier to use than runit and $6, while still being sane, unlike systemd. Yes, I'm going to focus on ease of use because as you said, that matters a lot.

    Ooh can you link directly to this? I'd love to take a look at. Runit is sharp and annoying.

    • gavinhoward  3 years ago

      Not done yet, unfortunately. That's why it's not public yet.

      But it will be based on a state management system (aka build system) that is almost done.

      Can you tell me what is sharp about runit? I will have a better chance of avoiding the same mistakes if I know exactly what annoys users about it.