build-essential

[Jeff Waugh]

<quote who="Matt Zimmerman">

> > The thing is, you're putting it in the wrong terms. The Ubuntu desktop
> > is not defined by the fact that it's "a Linux machine", and all the
> > baggage that phrase means to you. It's a desktop OS. A desktop OS
> > doesn't need a compiler.
> 
> This is starting to sound like religion.

Mostly because we decided on a particular course some time ago, and now
we're questioning that decision on totally different terms. Thus far, the
arguments have concentrated on "why not?" rather than "why?"...

I think this idea about "users will expect it" comes from a very different
mindset to what we're trying to achieve with Ubuntu. It turns out that the
other distributions (in the majority of cases) don't ship developer tools
with their desktops. Why? Because it's not desktop material. It's just not
relevant.

Presence of a compiler does not define the Linux experience, much less the
Linux desktop experience. Look at our distro peers, look at the other
desktop operating systems on the market (Dave raised Mac OS X's separation,
which was the original model we were aiming for).

In Warty, you can easily install build-essential from the CD. In Hoary, we
will most likely have a k-rad thing that you can click "Developer Tools" and
get all the fun stuff. These are not onerous tasks for the people who need
to use developer tools.

We have a very well-defined target for the DesktopSeed. There will be a lot
of give and take on that front once we're in the limelight - let's not muddy
it up before we even get our first release out.

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2005: Canberra, Australia                http://linux.conf.au/
 
    "MySQL supporters are like people who believe that the moon landings
    were a hoax. No matter what contrary information they're confronted
         with, they still consider MySQL to be the best." - ttfkam