Gentoo and "freenode"

j1 · n00b Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Posts: 9

After going through my inbox, I came across a message that resurrected a topic that I've been meaning to bring up.

The following was sent to the full-discloser mailing list Tue Jun 27 03:35:19 BST 2006.
[Full-disclosure] The truth about Rob Levin aka Lilo of irc.freenode.net

mod edit: Full repost of the mail removed because some people were unhappy with the full details of the mail being reposted here. It also broke line wrapping for me.

Anyway, here's the whole mail archived by seclists.org:
http://seclists.org/lists/fulldisclosure/2006/Jun/0843.html
Hope this solution makes everyone happy.
amne

Time for gentoo to dump freenode? I for one would welcome the idea, or at least serious consideration.

I've always wondered why it's still used by the FOSS community.

Care, don't care, thoughts?
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ectospasm · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:59 am Post subject:

In a (weak) defense of Freenode, it seems to me that the vast majority of channels on it are dedicated to FOSS projects. That alone should count for something. You won't find that on EFnet, or Undernet, or any other network for that matter. Now, that's not to say that something like Freenode (but much more secure) couldn't be built just for FOSS projects, but at the current moment that alternative network doesn't exist, AFAIK.

Now, the Gentoo project as a whole probably has the resources to create their own network, possibly accessible through irc.gentoo.org or something like that. But that's an administrative headache that I'm not sure anyone in the project would want to shoulder. It's a thought, though. I bet the reason why this hasn't been done yet is that Freenode was available, and they didn't want to reinvent the wheel since the problems with Freenode were unknown at the outset.

Here's my $0.02, take it or leave it.
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j1 · n00b Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Posts: 9

drwook · Veteran Joined: 30 Mar 2005 Posts: 1324 Location: London

I guess the question is why not irc.linux.org or irc.gnu.org or whatever? IMHO no project should truly be distro dependant...

j1 · n00b Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Posts: 9

Maedhros · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:24 pm Post subject:

I've only recently heard about oftc, but that could be an alternative, as it's also dedicated to free and open source projects. I think it's the network that Debian uses, too.
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j1 · n00b Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Posts: 9

It's the first I've heard of it too. And it does look like a good alternative. Theres already a small #gentoo. Lets get the ball rolling...
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Kensai · Guru Joined: 09 Mar 2004 Posts: 568 Location: Puerto Rico

Q-collective · Advocate Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 2071

As to me, I really don't see the problem with Freenode.

bunder · Bodhisattva Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 5934

irc.gentoo.org links to freenode.

rdavl · n00b Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Posts: 52

Been on OFTC for some time now and like it...
There is #gentoo channels there although not populated as the ones on freenode... too bad in my opinion...
I, for one, like oftc...
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Shan · Guru Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 558 Location: /dev/null

AllenJB · Veteran Joined: 02 Sep 2005 Posts: 1285

My response:
Who cares? So what?

Even if all this is true, all it shows is lilo appears to be living the "American Dream" of making money for almost no work. Congratulations! Wish I was doing it.

Q-collective · Advocate Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 2071

Syntaxis · Guru Joined: 28 Apr 2002 Posts: 511 Location: London, UK

Phenax · l33t Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 972

I'm completely satisfied with Freenode. If the FreeNode people want to make some cash while they're at it, more power to them. I probably would too if offered.

ferore · n00b Joined: 21 Oct 2005 Posts: 4

I find many aspects of freenode quite annoying.

People are donating to PDPC for lilo to sit on IRC 24/7. I'm not saying if he does a good job or not, however I dislike the fact that people are donating to this project just to run an IRC network. Nearly every other network survives with administrators who run the network in their spare time, including the other staff from freenode. All the money raised goes directly to lilo, all the servers on the network are donated to him to run an IRC server.

There are perfectly good alternative networks available, however getting users to switch to them because they aren't bothered can be a problem.

leahcim · n00b Joined: 17 Mar 2003 Posts: 29

rhill · Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 2:34 am Post subject:

once again, kids, stay off the crack.
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Q-collective · Advocate Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 2071

NightMonkey · Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:36 am Post subject: Re: Gentoo and "freenode"

Syntaxis · Guru Joined: 28 Apr 2002 Posts: 511 Location: London, UK

parallelgrapefruit · n00b Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 8

So lilo has done enough in the world to get National Enquireresque articles written about him.

Thats better than any of you have done.

He does a good job managing a network that is larger in scope than many networks out there, and it is maintained better than the other existing mega-networks (dalnet,efnet,blahblahblah). It has downtime and problems, but I cannot think of a large network that doesn't.

In addition, if one was to considder switching networks, there are a number of major problems.

1) Getting the word out. People don't notice updates for major packages, how would they know we have a new network.
2) Infrastructure. Gentoo is one of the largest irc communities in existance. Many networks would not be able to support such a large group of people, and we would have more downtime and problems.
3) Services. Any switch to a network of some scope would have people with registered nicks the same as those of developers and users. People are known by these nicks, asking them to change them just because one has a personal vendetta against lilo is one of the least sensible ideas I have heard.

Syntaxis · Guru Joined: 28 Apr 2002 Posts: 511 Location: London, UK

leahcim · n00b Joined: 17 Mar 2003 Posts: 29