Re: Discuss list

> TSL was/is good at being a nice lightweight server distro.  There
> certainly are not a lot of choices there.

Since this is a discussion list, I'd like to say whats important about  =

TSL for me.

1 - Easy light installation. This is true for TSL, but after working a  =

few weeks with CentOS, it's not so different. The reason for me TSL is  =

very easy is because I used it for many years and installed hundreds  =

of servers with it. Installing CentOS takes about 20% more time for  =

now, but that's not so important after all and just a matter of time.

2 - Secure. Ok, security for me is that I don't have to look at all  =

there servers because they get updates automatically. When you look at  =

it this way, TSL is completely NOT secure! Swup hangs on 50% of all  =

systems frequently, having me to login, kill swup and start it  =

manually.. :( This takes me many hours every week. I dont like yum on  =

CentOS very much, but it works without intervention!

3 - Active development to support new hardware. This is really  =

important, because hardware is changing fast. New CPU's, more cores,  =

different chipsets, and so on. With new systems I have to be really  =

careful what to buy, so TSL 2.2 can run on it. We also hit limits like  =

md raid set, they can be only 2Tb on a 2.4 kernel, and in most new  =

servers we have to go past the 2Tb. CentOS has a stable 2.6 kernel and  =

solves most of these issues.

4 - An active community to solve problems. The reason I posted this in  =

the first place was not to start a new "what distro is better"  =

discussion, but I really thought everyone was gone. This list is for  =

me the most important resource of getting answers to my questions.  =

Nobody knows everything (not me, for sure). I posted two very  =

important (for me) questions this month and got not a single reply on  =

it. The CentOS mailing list is very active and full of users who have  =

a lot more knowledge of this stuff than me.

The main issue is if I want to continue using TSL, I have to wait for  =

a stable 3.X release. When it comes out, I know I can=B4t migrate easy  =

from 2.2 to it, I have to do a reinstall. We have to test his, modify  =

bits of software, test it more, and put a lot of hours in it. I  =

concluded that it takes the same amount of time to do the migration to  =

CentOS, so for me it comes down to a big question: Is TSL really  =

better than CentOS? No, not for me.

I respect all the work Nived puts in maintaining this distro, but I  =

can't let me, my company and all my customers depend on one guy in  =

India! What if he gets fired, or worse? This is the really big  =

insecure part of TSL. In the past when my company was just one person  =

(me), this was always the big complaint of my customers ("You're a  =

nice guy who knows what he does, but what if.."). Now I have more  =

people working for me and this has gone, but if one of my customers  =

googles around to see what TSL is really like, he will start  =

complaining again about the "one person development".

So i was happy to hear form Christian again. I know he doesn't like  =

TSL, I can understand that, knowing his background as a former TSL  =

employee, and I do not expect a complete objective answer form him,  =

but he knows the facts, and these facts scary me too: 1 developer, 15  =

community members... He was I think the most skilled member here and  =

has helped me very often. I take his opinion very seriously. One of  =

his suggestions some time ago to me was to look at CentOS. I did and  =

starting to like it.

Morten I wish best luck in his new job and I hope he stays here on  =

this list as a very active member. If you have plans to move to the  =

Netherlands, please let me know :)

I still hope TSL will solve all this problems, but I don't think so  =

and it's not very realistic to expect it.

All that said, many, many thanks to all remaining 15 people on this  =

list and I hope TSL will stay here for a while to support all the  =

remaing 2.2 installations.

Greetings,

Ari=EBn