Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 0/1] services: network-manager: Add extra-configuration-files field.

From: Attila Lendvai <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2025 00:16:50 +0000

> I would advise against running a multitude of personal channels in favor
> of collaborating with others on a much smaller number of channels -- and

i agree. i meant to use the expression 'let a thousand flowers bloom' to be more about freedom and (friendly) competition, not the actual number.

> ideally as a team in Guix itself.

i don't think that will ever be satisfying because it's not facilitating the division of labor, which requires delegating responsibility (aka freedom), which in turn requires isolated parts of the system with isolated consequences.

there's no reason that the same set of people, or the same level of "security clearance" should be needed for the core guix tools, and e.g. updating the packages of the python ecosystem, or updating gnome.

i'm not saying it's easy to draw such demarcation lines. what i'm trying to say here is that i don't see any discussion or at least some wishful thinking that it could/should be like that.

and meanwhile there's a clear bottleneck at the center, no matter how much we talk about consensus and equality... at the end of the day a commit bit is a commit bit (which is ok, because it couldn't work any other way).

--
• attila lendvai
• PGP: 963F 5D5F 45C7 DFCD 0A39
--
“Since olden times conscience has been understood by many people less as a psychic function than as a divine intervention; indeed, its dictates were regarded as […] the voice of God. This view shows what value and significance were, and still are, attached to the phenomenon of conscience […] Conscience […] commands the individual to obey his inner voice even at the risk of going astray.”
	— Carl Jung (1875–1961), 'Civilization in Transition'