23 February 2009

Ubuntu is So Last Year: Here's Kongoni

Well, a groovy African name worked for Ubuntu, so maybe it will for Kongoni:

Named after the Shona word for the GNU, Kongoni has a strong BSD-Unix influence and includes a ports-like package management system. The underlying code is, however, based on Slackware and the makers are promising to keep the distribution free of proprietary software.

Interestingly:

Technically, says Venter, Kongoni adopts a BSD ports-like approach to package management. “Ports represent a powerful way to distribute software as a set of tools that automatically fetch the sources of the program and then compile it locally,” he says. “This is more bandwidth friendly for users as source code is usually smaller than prebuilt packages. This benefit is particularly useful in Africa where bandwidth is expensive, and since Kongoni came from Africa this was a major concern.”

...

The core system includes a KDE 4.2 desktop as the default desktop manager but the system intended to be easy to remaster, says Venter. Users can easily build and replicate the system with their own preferred setups and desktops.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

interesting!
I like how linux distributions are so anarchic in nature, like a variety of species in a forest.

Also I kept hearing about bsd and 'ports' but this simply explains how it works! thanks!\

Glyn Moody said...

@mike: yes, you're absolutely right: it's an ecosystem, with natural selection taking place all the time - that's why the end result is (a) so good and (b) getting better....