[RunningBear-devel] Beginning the RunningBear adventure

[Pierre Pronchery]

			Hello all,

I am very proud to have the opportunity to inaugurate the RunningBear
project [1]. I really hope that we can reach our goal as soon as
possible, without compromise on the quality of the project. Of course,
I will try my best to reach this goal!

I have began to fill in the website's wiki pages with our base ideas,
and the essential information [2]. Let's just say that this project will
not only experiment with Operating Systems design on embedded
platforms, but also with project management. To explain this, it would
be better if I introduce myself first.

I am a freelancing, self-proclamed free software and security
development consultant [3][4]. I think I can call myself a hacker, if
you consider it to be a mostly self-taught, passionate hobbyist, with a
dedication to understanding and explaining things. In this regard, the
main goal in my computer hobbyist life is to provide a decent,
accessible, clean yet attractive Operating System. I am therefore
developing my own Operating System, called DeforaOS [5].

To keep things short, I'll summarize its background:

- started in 2000 as customized packets and kernel for Debian
  It proved unmaintainable as woody was constantly delayed, updated, and
  then somehow "obsolete" before its release.
  During that time, I released a LiveCD auto-configuring X in 640x480
  over the VESA framebuffer, with a graphical, Gtk-based installed
  (featuring a port of fdisk to Gtk+), installing a complete woody
  GNOME desktop, and then booting it automatically.

- went my own way in 2003, basing my effort on the Linux From Scratch
  project, and for which I wrote a package management system.
  This proved unmaintainable only because software packaging was
  impossible to achieve without meaningless loss of time, mostly due to
  the autotools being used in all sorts of wrong ways.

- I then decided to go for a full rewrite in 2004. Too inexperienced to
  write a kernel first, I used Linux, NetBSD and other kernels to
  experiment with my ideas ever since.

(all of this is still found somewhere on the DeforaOS website)

Where this becomes important with this project, is that after this, I am
convinced the major issue with Open Source software is the lack of
direction, of focus during its development. Sadly, only companies have
the resources and power to drive this. The word driving is important:
nothing should ever be enforced either. A good balance is vital, and
rarely found in companies.

There is this company however, with whom I have been working for a while
now, both as a friend and customer: Bearstech [6]. Bearstech is
committed to the Open Source business model and best practices. It's
still small and human, and I honestly see only talented people there.

Therefore, it's with great pleasure that I am joining Bearstech in this
effort. For practical and freedom reasons, and in spite of the e-mail
account I am using, I remain an external worker at Bearstech. I trust
them to drive this project as fairly as possible, and I trust you all
to confront your ideas with mine, as my word will not have more value
than yours.

May the best of our brain cells juice flow right through, and this
vision become true for as many of us as likely.

[1] http://runningbear.org/
[2] http://runningbear.org/trac/wiki
[3] http://people.defora.org/~khorben/
[4] http://www.duekin.com/
[5] http://www.defora.org/
[6] http://bearstech.com/

Yours,
-- 
Pierre Pronchery <ppronchery at bearstech.com>
Bearstech - http://bearstech.com/