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Linux Mint Going systemd, Foresight Closes Shop & More…

FOSS Week in Review

An active week — both here at FOSS Force around the Fossosphere — is coming to an end, and by “active,” I completely mean that in a good way. Special tip of the hat to Ken Starks and his interview on FOSS Force yesterday, which you should check out if you haven’t already.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the FOSS realm…

Linux Mint to go with systemd: While Linux Mint did not join the systemd derby when the green flag dropped, Linux Mint project leader Clement Lefebvre expects the next releases of Linux Mint to use systemd by default, according to an article this week in PC World.

According to the article, Linux Mint 17 and Linux Mint Debian Edition 2 still use Upstart and SysV init, with systemd available as an option. Linux Mint is giving systemd some time to mature before switching, “but with upstream projects and the Linux ecosystem as a whole moving towards systemd, Mint realizes it doesn’t have an option in the long term,” the article states.

Foresight Linux logoGoodbye, Foresight Linux: As reported this week from various sources, Foresight Linux is calling it a day and shuttering up their shop.

On a post on LWN.net: “The Foresight Linux Council has determined that there has been insufficient volunteer activity to sustain meaningful new development of Foresight Linux. Faced with the need either to update the project’s physical infrastructure or cease operations, we find no compelling reason to update the infrastructure.”

So they’ll shut down their software repositories, JIRA and Confluence servers, shared developer infrastructure and mailing lists at the end of May. The foresightlinux.org domain will remain as an informal “alumni association” for an indefinite amount of time, along with the project IRC channels for as long as they are in use.

The LWN report continues: “The Foresight Linux Council would like to extend our thanks to the Software Freedom Conservancy, our corporate home, for their support of Foresight Linux and of software freedom generally. We would also like to thank SAS Institute for providing physical infrastructure and hosting for the past two and a half years, as well as for offering to refresh the infrastructure. This decision to retire Foresight Linux was entirely the council’s.”

The things I do . . . : As you know, FOSS Force is in the middle of its fundraising drive. In the past as Larry the Free Software Guy, I have taken some extreme, un-Larry-like measures to raise funds for Reglue. Long story short, I am not above sitting in the dunk tank while FOSS folks toss baseballs to try to put me in the proverbial water if the cause is good enough. Got any ideas? I do, and will post them here soon — one, and it will cost someone at least a five-figure sum (hello, Mark?), is an Ubuntu tattoo somewhere on this rather large body.

Meanwhile, see you Wednesday.

4 Comments

  1. lizbeth lizbeth May 16, 2015

    Never heard of foresight. Can’t download it to even look at it.

  2. Somewhat Reticent Somewhat Reticent May 16, 2015

    [to: lizbeth] Not from the original website, perhaps – have you tried secondary sources, like SoftPedia?
    There are other options – rumor has it their Conary package manager can be used on (a version of) CentOS, or (a spin/remix of) Fedora.

  3. Eddie G. Eddie G. May 17, 2015

    sad to see Foresight go, I remember running across them in my distro-hopping days. I used it for about three months, it was reliable, stable, and didn’t give me any major issues with either the software or my hardware. My deepest thanks to the originators, they helped me “learn” more about command-line activity. As for an idea for the crowdfunding? Maybe polo shirts/t-shirts/coffee mugs/thermoses that have the FOSS Force logo? (I know I’d definitely give $50.00 for a bundle like that!) I expect to make a donation anyway, be cause I can’t go without my FOSSForce newsletter!!!

    Cheers!
    EGO II

  4. Christine Hall Christine Hall May 17, 2015

    @Eddie We looked into offering t-shirts and mugs, but came to the same conclusion as our friends at Hello World when they were preparing for their fundraiser — that the cost is prohibitive for a small fundraising campaign such as this. Also, all of the cost would be up front, further making it undoable.

    However, we are considering opening a CafePress style store offering FOSS Force branded items as part of our ongoing funding efforts, but that’s not likely to happen until next year, and won’t help us with our immediate needs.

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