[Slackbuilds-users] Slackware and Plug'n'Play for removable devices

[Niki Kovacs]

Robby Workman a e'crit :
> 
> Well, from a personal standpoint (not necessarily speaking for the SBo
> project as a whole), I wouldn't mind seeing a HAL build script at SBo,
> and even if it's not feasible to get something acceptable under the
> project guidelines, I'd be more than happy to refer people to a known
> good script (unofficially, of course - not endorsed by SBo).

Well, let's do that.

> In the long-term, some of these talented guys who are "forking" Slack
> into various directions would be better served by addressing the
> underlying causes of Slackware not going in the direction they would
> would like it to go.  By eliminating the hard necessity of PAM to
> include HAL, it would be a much easier decision to go for HAL in the
> official Slackware package set.  

There's a funny french saying: "It might work in practice, but does it 
work in theory?"
I'd say: take the last version of HAL that doesn't require PAM, e. g. 
0.5.7.1, and build it as cleanly as possible. If that's a problem from a 
philosophical point of view, then think about how Slackware often 
includes what might seem dated versions of software (xorg 6.9, apache 
1.3, kernel 2.4, ...) for various reasons. So why suddenly think "latest 
versions" when building HAL? Curiously enough, the vast majority of 
distributions including HAL - except the bleeding-edge ones like Arch - 
seem to rely on older versions. As for subsequent versions, there's 
another french saying for that. Tomorrow is another day.

> Of course, I'm not at all claiming to
> speak for Pat on this, as this is just my take on the matter, but it
> would certainly be one less hurdle to overcome.  The downside, of
> course, at least from the perspective of the "fork" maintainers, is
> that much of their reason for existence might be gone.  I guess, in
> that respect, it would depend entirely upon their goals.  As I've
> stated publicly on more than one occasion: the work that I do is
> geared toward helping improve Slackware, so if I have to decide
> between staying true to the goals of Slackware or forking, well, it's
> an easy decision for me.   :-)

My working goals are a bit different. If a mayor tells me: in two weeks 
time we need ten publicly accessible machines in our new computer room, 
with these and these features, I'll make a detailed list of everything 
required, and then choose whatever is best to do the job. Of course I'd 
prefer Slackware for a variety of reasons (7.1 was my first Linux distro 
ever, been using Slack for years, familiar with it, it's transparent, 
it's flexible, there's a helpful and competent user community, ...), but 
as long as I can't solve my problem, something else has to do the job in 
the meantime (to my dismay, or else, I wouldn't stick to AOLS and this 
list :oD). And now, as Goethe stated it:

"Grau, lieber Freund, ist alle Theorie,
  Und gru"n des Lebens goldner Baum." (Faust I)

Meaning: Theory, my dear friend, is grey / And green life's golden tree.

Those of you with a hal.SlackBuild on your PC, step forward. No fear. No 
qualms. Just do it, as one of my wife's T-shirts says.

Niki