distributions are good!

I love software distributions. with one unified system, thousands of software packages are at my disposal, integrated into my system, updated automatically, and fetched with a single command. the maintainers of a distribution act graciously, existing between me… and the software developers.

the software developer is a wretched, lowly creature. they deserve nothing, especially not to control what people run on their computer and do with their software. I’m allowed to say this because I’m one myself.

software developers are big control freaks. it’s probably because they struggle generally to create anything that doesn’t break if breathed on incorrectly. so, they decide that they prefer to ship things in entire hermetically sealed universes. software developers are also quite fixated on having RCE or rootkits on your system, running at startup, experimenting on users without consent, and so on. the software developer is known to evacuate their bladder at any such time as a user exercises agency whatsoever.

here’s what a FOSS license is to me: a certificate of not being a completely conceited bitch. sadly, even if you put a FOSS license on your software, you can still whine about it. however, I don’t have to care.

bzzzt! this is the sound of me patching your package. this is the sound of me theming your app. and if it breaks, guess what? I’m going to put an issue in your issue tracker. after all, you decided to have an issue tracker. there was no gun to your head. if you feel thankless, then send a patch to the mailing list.

distributions are great because unlike the dubiously and variously motivated software developer, the maintainers of a distribution are at least somewhat motivated to present a system which functions cohesively, rather than assuming that you only use one program on your computer whatsoever, which software developers seem to do (they’re such monogamists).

the software developer sees themselves as an auteur, whose experience must not be adulterated. it must be a mass-produced commodity purchased in pristine condition on the shelf of an “"App Store”“. a distribution adulterates it on a massive scale. it’s truly wonderful!

of course, some dubiously motivated distributions have become increasingly aligned with the software developer, promoting packaging systems catering to the software developer, and friendly to potentially malicious proprietary applications.

software developers want us to live in a world of snaps, flatpacks, and generally, Apps. they want you to run exactly the code they want at any given moment and nothing else. this is a loathsome world. I do not want to live in it.

I’ve made a few rude blog posts lately, so I promise to bring some sweetness soon.