How Long Will Arch last?

ihavenoname · 2006-06-13 04:38:30

Hi, my question here is not to ridicule (or otherwise designed to offend anyone) but one of concern. Many distributions have a viable economic model which helps ensure that the distro can survive (Fedora is one prime example). The fact that Fedora has the backing of Red Hat means that it is almost always asured funding. Ubuntu is also moving in this general direction (although their model does not seem as reliable as Red Hat's yet.) What gurrantee do we have that Arch can last for many decades to come? The Arch devs are real people with real jobs. As far as I know they do not actually get and money from Arch Linux. What sustains Arch ( pays for servers etc.) Is it simply donations? Can Arch survive soley off of donations?

What are your thoughts and ideas do you have on how to make Arch a self sustaining distro while also keeping it free? Finally if Arch falls apart what would you do?

THIS IS HYPOTHETICAL THIS IN NO MEANS IMPLIES THAT ARCH IS GOING UNDER ANY TIME SOON!

( I would also like to take this time to conragulate the Arch devs for coming this far and thank them for all their work it is much appreciated.)

McQueen · 2006-06-13 04:45:24

ihavenoname wrote:

What sustains Arch ( pays for servers etc.) Is it simply donations? Can Arch survive soley off of donations?

Arch occasionally has a funding drive for special needs when they arise (which are quickly met), but otherwise it has been sustainable based on donations and some text-ad revenue. The CD sales are now feeding some monies back into the project as well.

twiistedkaos · 2006-06-13 05:37:03

ihavenoname wrote:

(Fedora is one prime example). The fact that Fedora has the backing of Red Hat means that it is almost always asured funding.

Erm, If I remember correctly, since I was a fedora user, Red Hat no longer backs Fedora, fedora is now a project of it's own. Red Hat isn't supporting Fedora anymore, the current developers of Fedora are staying with it anda re supporting it themselfs.

rasat · 2006-06-13 05:53:13

Arch can go on "forever" as long as there are voluntary package and system maintainers. Its simplicity and user oriented approach will keep it going. ABS and AUR make everyone aware/know how packages are made and maintained.

ihavenoname · 2006-06-13 06:40:27

twiistedkaos wrote:

ihavenoname wrote:
(Fedora is one prime example). The fact that Fedora has the backing of Red Hat means that it is almost always asured funding.
Erm, If I remember correctly, since I was a fedora user, Red Hat no longer backs Fedora, fedora is now a project of it's own. Red Hat isn't supporting Fedora anymore, the current developers of Fedora are staying with it anda re supporting it themselfs.

Yes, that did seem to be the indication, apparently they formed the Fedora Foundation to seperate them to some extent ( as far as I know). But it seems the Red Hat has decided to hold on to Fedora for a while, they still back them and give them and I belive they even have a set of paid developers. So while they are less connected, Red Hat still plays a role in the direction that Fedora takes. If I can find the article on this I will post it.

dtw · 2006-06-13 06:56:29

Well, lets look at Ubuntu - all Arch needs is a wealthy benefactor and we can probably take over the world too Right place, right time. Enough said.

iphitus · 2006-06-13 07:16:54

I think that this thread is somewhat pointless.

What anyone says is simply pure conjecture beyond the next five years. There's just so many variables, which way the industry will go, what will happen to linux in general, what will happen to other distros, whether anyone gets hit by a bus, there's just far too much to even guess.

James

ihavenoname · 2006-06-13 07:22:24

iphitus wrote:

I think that this thread is somewhat pointless.
What anyone says is simply pure conjecture beyond the next five years. There's just so many variables, which way the industry will go, what will happen to linux in general, what will happen to other distros, whether anyone gets hit by a bus, there's just far too much to even guess.
James

Hm, the point was not just to ask if ppl thought it would last, it also to see what people believe needs to be done to better secure Arch's future (sry if I was unclear on that.) It's to gather possible options. Not to simply ask what someone's opinion was. Anything can happen, but that does not mean we can't at least attempt to prepare.

paranoos · 2006-06-13 09:17:07

I find the belief that things should remain 'the same' for 'long periods of time' very strange. This poll's options are rather vague, or at least unrealistic. Please forgive me if I seem offensive, I am merely making an imaginitive post here. You have provoked my thoughts! Arch can not survive forever, in a litteral sense. I understand that is not the meaning of the original poster, of course.

Firstly, there's the obvious fact that we can't know what's going to happen to our beloved distribution.

Perhaps less obvious is the fact that we don't even know if Linux will still be around for long. Or even PCs, as we know them today.

If you'll allow me to be a little philosophical here, many futurists believe that within this century, post-humans will live and interact solely within technology, with no vestigial, biological bodies necessary. An entire society could survive in a 'computer'.

So, what exactly is forever or a long time, in terms of a Linux distribution? To me, Arch surviving another 5 years is a very long time, and a great feat. Surely, who knows if I'll even want to be running Arch next week.

iphitus · 2006-06-13 09:28:25

ihavenoname wrote:

Hm, the point was not just to ask if ppl thought it would last, it also to see what people believe needs to be done to better secure Arch's future (sry if I was unclear on that.) It's to gather possible options. Not to simply ask what someone's opinion was. Anything can happen, but that does not mean we can't at least attempt to prepare.

ok then, well in that case, the best way to ensure it's future would be to have ten million dollars, in briefcases, delivered by secure transport to my front doorstep. If this isnt done by midnight, i'll wipe community again

mingfal · 2006-06-13 10:21:53

i think arch can be alive until there's nobody wants to use arch anymore,coz anyone can make contribution to it.just like what rasat said.

profoX · 2006-06-13 10:27:44

http://www.google.com/trends?q=archlinux

this looks positive

Moo-Crumpus · 2006-06-13 11:34:26

Suffering from a boring polls flu, archlinux will soon vanish.

Gullible Jones · 2006-06-13 18:48:10

I'm guessing another 8-10 years or so, barring merger with some other distro or something... At that point Linux might start to become obsolete. There are after all other open-source kernels and operating systems out there, and some of them look like they might eventually supplant the current set.

(No, I'm not talking about HURD, that probably won't get anywhere.)

ihavenoname · 2006-06-13 22:45:22

Gullible Jones wrote:

I'm guessing another 8-10 years or so, barring merger with some other distro or something... At that point Linux might start to become obsolete. There are after all other open-source kernels and operating systems out there, and some of them look like they might eventually supplant the current set.
(No, I'm not talking about HURD, that probably won't get anywhere.)

which ones do you think will take off? I tried bsd and I was too impressed, It was no faster then Linux. (I tried PC-BSD) I think Linux is getting better all the time, lets just hope Linux's success is not tied directly to Linus.

Hmm, many ppl seem concerned that the questions are to vague, lets change it a little bit. IF all the main devs decided to stop making the distro tommorrow will that be the end of arch? Which of you would actually take their place?

Gullible Jones · 2006-06-14 00:51:00

Well there's DragonflyBSD, that's up-and-coming and looks to have some interesting features... There's also Unununium (no kernel, damned if I know how!), and a bunch of other *nixes that occasionally get a link on OSNews. I have no idea which, if any, would succeed Linux, but I wouldn't be surprised if something did; things do become obsolete after all.

cactus · 2006-06-14 01:31:19

Vista?
*giggles*

deficite · 2006-06-14 02:07:39

You don't have a time period less than 10 years. I can see Arch possibly falling apart someday. If it does, it'll probably be caused by arguments leading to forks. I don't see pacman, the Arch philosophy, and the configuration system Arch employs going away any time soon. It's the most sane system I've seen on any distribution and/or OS.

So basically, my view isn't a pessimistic doomsday sayer, but instead I see the death of Arch being the birth of something just as good if not better.

McQueen · 2006-06-14 03:00:59

Arch is the people behind it, not the system itself.
The system will become what we make of it.

What we make of it is up to us.

ihavenoname · 2006-06-14 05:04:41

McQueen wrote:

Arch is the people behind it, not the system itself.
The system will become what we make of it.
What we make of it is up to us.

Very true (it's what makes it such a great distro). Gullible Jones, what you say is true, but I belive that if a certain kernel begins to succeed the Linux kernel but I think that Arch is modular enough to adjust to the "replacement" kernel.

profoX · 2006-06-14 05:32:09

Gullible Jones wrote:

... There's also Unununium (no kernel, damned if I know how!) ...

Read the FAQ (Introduction page) for more info about Unununium:
http://unununium.org/introduction

Something interesting:

On what platforms does Unununium run?
The latest plan is to implement Unununium as a Linux userspace process. Linux is a stable, available, well documented program which eliminates most of the mundane, uncreative aspects of usual OS development such as writing hardware drivers. It also provides an easy mode of execution, with a developed debugger such as gdb, and fast boot times, since there is no need for a full hardware reboot. This makes development much easier.
Running on Linux has disadvantages as well. Probably most significantly, some things are slower. For a slower speed in execution, we get a faster speed in development. Some day it would be nice to reduce overhead, but that's something that will wait until there is something running.
For some reason or another, this choice of platform leads people to question if Unununium can really be an OS. Of course, it really depends on how "OS" is defined. Unununium is an environment and a design common to all programs which depend on it, and in this sense might be considered an OS.

Gullible Jones · 2006-06-14 09:32:28

Ah, sorry... Last I checked they had planned it to be a separate kernel-free OS, like TUNES.

ihavenoname wrote:

McQueen wrote:
Arch is the people behind it, not the system itself.
The system will become what we make of it.
What we make of it is up to us.
Very true (it's what makes it such a great distro). Gullible Jones, what you say is true, but I belive that if a certain kernel begins to succeed the Linux kernel but I think that Arch is modular enough to adjust to the "replacement" kernel.

Good point... It would probably be a PITA to add another kernel, but it wouldn't be impossible.

profoX · 2006-06-14 11:27:49

I can't see linux disappear anytime soon

ScriptDevil · 2006-06-15 08:56:46

I dunno, it is like this , Linux kernel and GNU dont have payware, yet they survive. So will Arch.

Arch Linux

#1 2006-06-13 04:38:30

How Long Will Arch last?

#2 2006-06-13 04:45:24

Re: How Long Will Arch last?

#3 2006-06-13 05:37:03

Re: How Long Will Arch last?

#4 2006-06-13 05:53:13

Re: How Long Will Arch last?

#5 2006-06-13 06:40:27

Re: How Long Will Arch last?

#6 2006-06-13 06:56:29

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#7 2006-06-13 07:16:54

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#8 2006-06-13 07:22:24

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#9 2006-06-13 09:17:07

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#10 2006-06-13 09:28:25

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#12 2006-06-13 10:27:44

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#13 2006-06-13 11:34:26

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#14 2006-06-13 18:48:10

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#23 2006-06-14 11:27:49

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#24 2006-06-15 08:56:46

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