[CLUE-Talk] RE: [CLUE-Tech] Managing multiple servers (my little rant)

[David Willson]

OK.  I'm sending my reply to CLUE-talk, since it is a rant, and I know
it.  I apologize in advance for any hurt feelings.

The original email says (I am paraphrasing and this is not an inclusive
list.):

 - I have recently begun to use RPM's to save myself time
installing/updating
   software on my 8 'mission critical' servers.  I am running into
problems 
   with what looks to RPM like broken dependencies.
 - I don't want to pay $60 per year, per server, for access to RHN.
 - I don't want to pay a Linux network administrator.
 - I don't want to take the time to deal with this manually.
 - Should I switch to (Debian, or a Debian-like distro), and it's
apt-get
   methodology?

Since you don't want to be a Linux admin, pay a Linux admin, or pay to
subscribe to RHN, and since you are definitely getting some serious
value from the Linux community, I have to ask, "What are you doing to
contribute?  Have you convinced your company to GPL a valuable piece of
software, or are you coding on a 'free software' project, or are you
offering free training, or free tech-support, or paying for your distro,
or at least under-cutting every closed-source shop you know of, or
what?"

If you ~are~ doing something, disregard the rest of this message,
because, for you, it's understood.  If you, or anyone else reading this
message, is ~not~ doing something, please take the time...

Nothing is cost-free.  A Linux distro is free to you, but some group
volunteered it's time, or some company paid it's employees to assemble
and test it, and somebody paid for or contributed the server hardware,
and the 'Net connection over which it was downloaded, and a bunch of
programmers contributed their time to create the pieces.  Please give
freely back as best you are able, whether it's in dollars or sweat or
both.  If you don't contribute, someone else will do extra to cover for
you, but that's called free-loading, and it's wrong.  Windows costs
about $200 these days, so maybe a good guideline would be to do five
hours of 'Linux-community service' every time you install Linux and
don't contribute in some other way.  You'd be paying yourself $40/hour
in savings, and getting a better operating system in the bargain.  This
thing works best on the honor system, and the best way to show how
'honorable' you are is to put yourself at the service of the community
that has blessed you with all the free software.