Timeline direction discussion

[FabioLolix]

Hello all and thanks for your patience, while I still need to reply to many I have read all the posts. Taking time away from the Timeline was a good thing which let me consider different aspects to consider before adding new distributions to it.

For the Timeline

• copy gldt.csv as ldt.csv

  • gldt.csv will: keep Gnu logo, remove Android, have stright lines for distro base changes
  • ldt.csv will: keep Android, remove Gnu logo, distro lines will 'jump' when base distro change,
    solving 'SUSE is no longer based on Slackware' et similar (deepin, etc..)

• will be added distros that have a fullfilled page (and have a certain quality) at my new (open) sort of wiki/database of Distros/OS.
  The wiki don't have a barrier for entries unlike the timeline

  • https://github.com/FabioLolix/distroware.gitlab.io
  • https://gitlab.com/Distroware/distroware.gitlab.io
  • https://distroware.gitlab.io/
  • https://distroware.gitlab.io/os/linux/b/bbqlinux/

• all links in the timeline will be replaced by links to the wiki

• is expected a certain degree of installability and openess, which some proprietary firmware like FireOS, WearOS and KaiOS don't seem to have

• will not be added, and will be removed, distro that:

  • have lasted less then 2,5 years and produced less then 4 releases, with the exception for independent distros the first ten years and for distros that have been merged together or into others (Lede, Flint OS, etc..).
    No discounts, on the contrary there is no deadline for addition of projects that fails to create open and quality systems.
  • are available only as virtual machines (Whonix, CloudLinuxOS, Amazon Linux)
  • are for WSL, WSL2
  • are commercial embedded distros that have nothing to offer for regular desktop users (ELinOS, KaeilOS [also EOL])
  • are bundled with hardware only (ChromeOS, EmperorOS)
  • are joke distributions (Swift, Hannah Montana, etc..)
  • are just remixes or lacks in quality (amateurish packaging, just an ISO thrown on SourceForge for example)
  • don't respect trademarks or registered names, or use them in a questionable way (i.e. some OS from Binary Emotions).
    (Ubuntu have name usage guidelines, need to check it)

• I will not add distros for money (unlike Distrowatch since I haven't running costs and this is a hobby), but if you want to make a donation you're welcome

• I don't take seriously who use file lockers or only Google Drive for system images hosting

• considerations for adding commercial distros:

  • possibility of a free trial, without contacting a sales rep.
  • availability of packages source

• make an 'active' timeline and an 'active OSS' timeline, possibly with a script. Unlike some time ago I would like to work on and have a timeline in which there are distros that are both actively maintained and really open source (for commercial proprietary distro sources of packages would be enough)

• The SVG could be build with Gnuplot?

• additionally build a timeline with straight lines from base to fork?

For build.sh

Many thanks to @konimex which rewrote build.sh with #160

* remove any bashism from build.sh, aim for 100% POSIX compliance

* convert the SVG to PNG using ImageMagik instead of Inkscape

* aim to have build.sh working on highest number of (Unix, unix-like) systems (OS + CPU combination) possible with lowest number of dependencies

* consider to change compression from bzip2 if the rustification will became an issue in the future, also consider
Xz format inadequate for long-term archiving

[FabioLolix]

Discussion for #158

[FabioLolix]

Next version will be 20.10 on 25 October, there will be a .1 revision on 31 October if needed. Then further releases on Linux Day every year

[FabioLolix]

In the past I had a soft spot for adding multimedia distros (playback oriented), this will not happen again without following the rules

Inclusion of distro logo/icon isn't in my priority

[FabioLolix]

I don't take seriously who use file lockers or only Google Drive for system images hosting

[CodeWithShreyans]

In the past I had a soft spot for adding multimedia distros (playback oriented), this will not happen again without following the rules

Inclusion of distro logo/icon isn't in my priority

I understand that logos are not important to the timeline but it just gives it a little bit of personality and makes it easier to find the root distros now that the list is so long
You can atleast add the ones that don't require permission i.e. all except RedHat

[FabioLolix]

I understand that logos are not important to the timeline but it just gives it a little bit of personality and makes it easier to find the root distros now that the list is so long

I have other priorities, also when tried to add some logo in the past it didn't work FabioLolix/gnuclad#1

You can at least add the ones that don't require permission i.e. all except RedHat

You can make a PR and I'll evaluate it