SprezzOS FAQ

Ask more questions, more frequently, and there'll be more FAQ!

Preliminaries

1. Did the world really need another Linux distribution?
   • Probably not. Does it really need you? At least SprezzOS has a page of justification for its existence.
2. What if Sprezzatech should go out of business?
   • I would continue to work on the Project as time was available, though one wonders if it's worth living in such a world.
3. What if you get hit by a bus?
   • That's admittedly a problem. Since it's all open source, anyone could pick it up and fork it.
   • The Debian Derivatives Census tracks all divergences from Debian, and could be used to assure all desirable changes get merged back in.
4. Isn't it "FAQs"?
   • If you love redundancies so much, why don't you marry them?

Installation

1. I just installed, and my machine seems broken. It just says "login" on a black screen. Ought I lose hope?
   • No; you're in the shell environment. X.org is not installed by default in SprezzOS 1.
   • If you want to run it, you'll need log in and install the xorg-xserver package, the appropriate video package, and appropriate input packages.
2. I don't need no stinking text mode! Will you ever install X.org by default?
   • We plan to support configuration of X.org directly from the installer of SprezzOS 2.
3. Where's USB-based media?
   • It'll be made available as soon as it's available.

Installation Problems

1. Are there hardware configurations on which the installer is known to fail?
   • Sadly many, I'm afraid. Our installer is neither as mature nor robust as I'd like it to be.
   • It's improving slowly, but is definitely the weak link in the SprezzOS chain. I'm sorry.
   • Please file bugs.
2. Why did my install fail during package installation? Don't you people test these things?
   • The installation media is constant for a SprezzOS version, but it fetches and installs a set of packages dependent on the current upstream repositories.
   • Some packaging bugs only manifest themselves when configured during install, and slip through.
   • Sometimes interpackage bugs (i.e., dependence on a missing package) slip through.
   • Please file bugs. These tend to get fixed very quickly once noted.

Security

1. I want to do everything as root, and am smarter than you. Why must I create a user account?
   • If you're so smart, figure out a way to install without creating a user account.
   • Or just never use it. Or remove it. You're running as root all the time anyway. Set your login shell to rm -rf / for all I care.
2. I adhere to Richard Stallman's no-passwords policy. Why do you force a password upon me?
   • It's a useful protection against stuck ENTER keys driving runaway installs.
   • Were it not for people like you, there'd be no thievery in this world!
3. Why isn't there a password on sudo? And a timeout? And a supersecret password after the first password? That'd be tre secure!
   • For the same reason you don't turn the lights on and off 17 times when you leave a room. Observe:
   1. Eve pwns Bob's account.
   2. Eve installs a keystroke logger running with Bob's privileges.
   3. Bob now has to type a bunch of stupid crap, even though...
   4. Eve still captures both the secret and supersecret passwords, successfully escalating privilege.
4. How do I get back TCPwrappers support?
   • Set the Delorean's circuits for 1985 and get that baby up to 88. Alternatively, use IPTables.

Multimedia

1. Where's the Enlightened Sound Daemon?
   • The last ESD release was 2008. It has been deprecated for years, and PulseAudio supplies a compatibility module. It will not be returning.
2. How do I watch Flash in my browser?
   • You can try installing the flash-nonfree package, though it is no longer supported upstream, tends to crash a lot, and has known security issues.
   • You can try installing the gnash-plugin package, though it doesn't work very often.
   • Yeah, I agree this situation sucks. Sorry, man; I didn't do it.
3. How can I rip physical Blu-Ray media?
   • We recommend the (regrettably closed-source) MakeMKV. It has strong, active Linux support, and works very well.

X

1. I ran startx and just have an ugly black xterm! Where's all my crap?
   • You need to install a window manager, and run it in your .xinitrc.
2. Can't I have a graphical login?
   • Yes; you need to install and enable a display manager.

Misc

1. Why does all of this suck so much?
   • Humility is endless. You get what you pay for. Patches are welcome.
2. Where can I send these patches?
   • sprezzos-dev@googlegroups.com, or better yet attach them to a bug.
3. This is awesome! How can I help?
   • Money, money, money. Please donate using the Donate button on the left. Your donations keep the Project afloat.
4. Using Facebook as a login mechanism for the wiki makes me unhappy!
   • That is a statement, not a question.
5. Don't you know that successful large projects need consensus, not a rogue HIC playing by his own rules?
   • The Linux kernel and Linus Torvalds would seem to be a counterexample, but I suppose that only time will tell.
6. Isn't this really just one guy? Why do you keep saying "we"?
   • Future-proofing, and yes, but I fight with the strength of ten tigers.

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