Interview with the Ark Linux Developers (English Version)
This is an interview of the Ark Linux core team and a couple of contributors, conducted by email and IRC. Ark Linux will be present at LinuxTag in Karlsruhe, having its own booth. A new alpha-version of Ark Linux (alpha8) has just been released and is available for download. The developers can be reached by IRC on #arklinux or arklinux-devel on irc.freenode.net or on the mailing lists provided on www.arklinux.org.
Enjoy!
piffio: Ark Linux wants to be a true desktop OS. A replacement for Windows, easy to use for your mother and versatile for the power user. And, not least, it has to be a 100% free OS.
deux:I would really like to see Ark Linux as a highly intuitive, functional operating system that works well out of the box - for everyone.
rei_0000: I think I'd like to see it become a strong competitor to Windows XP Home/Pro Editions.
Q4: WHERE IS ARK LINUX DIFFERENT FROM EXISTING FREE DISTRIBUTIONS?
saint: "There are many distributions out there already... why another one? *yawn*" Decent question. An answer I see, lays in the combination of four key factors. Firstly, we have a clear goal and we hope to get there. We're not just about collecting 5000 different Open Source projects together and throwing 10 CDs at a customer. We're about providing a tailored, high quality, polished offering that the end user can benefit from. Secondly, we strive to be a truly international project - and hope to attract contributors from East and West, and North and South. (If nothing else, help us translate our installer to your language!) Thirdly, we are not influenced by shareholders, directors, or marketing departments. The technology itself, the Open Source and Free Software communities, and our customer - the end user, are our focus. Lastly, we encourage input, ideas, suggestions, contributions and even criticisms - in a mature, respectful and friendly environment. We believe its possible to create better software in a positive atmosphere. On this last point, we seek packagers, documentation writers, translations, graphic artists, quality assistance testers, and those who can if nothing else help to support our growing user base - many of whom are computer users new to the wonderful world that is Linux.
boris: We have a clear vision of how we would like to mould our desktop distro, but we're also open to suggestions and criticisms from our users. We also try to create a friendly atmosphere on our irc channel.
bero: I see mostly two differences between Ark Linux and other free distributions - the first is our clear focus on ease of use, while most other free distributions are meant primarily for techies and/or servers. The second is that we're more ready to diverge from old unix paradigms when they don't make much sense for our users - for example we're allowing autologin, and we've come up with a way to let the default user install software etc. without having to bother with authentication. (the traditional system is still available for people who want it)
piffio: We avoid duplication. We try to chose for the user the best software for every task. We're trying to simplify some aspect of Linux that aren't too easy to understand for the end user. Also, being a free project we are free to make our choices based only on technical reasons, without the influence of any marketing related argument.
deux: For me, our core developers make the difference, their characters, their hearts and their passions.
rei_0000: I see it having a more friendly community atmosphere, for one. Additionally, the new user is the focus. If the new Linux user cannot get something done or if something frustrates them about Linux and makes them think of switching back to MS Windows, the Ark Linux team is open to changing the OS. Instead of changing the user.
Q5: HOW IS ARK LINUX ORGANISED? HOW DO YOU BECOME A DEVELOPER?
saint: As I mentioned earlier, we have a core team, and we have regular contributors. The primary vehicles for communication are both mailing lists - good for reaching the most people, and IRC - for real time discussion and meetings. If you want to become a developer, or any kind of contributor, drop in to our IRC channel and say hello, bonjour, hola, or whatever you say in your part of the world! Regardless of experience, don't think that you can't get involved and make a difference!
boris: All of our discussions take place on IRC, so the best way is to head over to irc.freenode.net and join #arklinux. Since we have only started growing recently, we have previously had no need for "organisation", but this will start to develop as we move towards alpha 9, as we have many changes planned and many more contributors. We had our first organised irc meeting the other week where we discussed ideas for the future. We will also be having a documentation discussion and a bug-fixing fest. All welcome. ;-)
bero: Ark Linux is a collaborative effort - anyone who wants to can join (even if you can't fix the issues you have yourself, your feedback is important). People who contribute a lot get CVS write access. A good place to start is #arklinux on irc.arklinux.org and the arklinux-list at arklinux dot org mailing list.
piffio: The main discussion channel is IRC. We try to discuss every non trivial question, and we are open for suggestions from the end users. If you are interested and you want to get involved with technical discussions about the distro you can join #arklinux and #arklinux-devel on freenode (IRC). You are a developer once you start contributing anything. We have quite open policies at the moment. Just show you're interested in Ark Linux and you'll get a CVS account and so on immediately.
deux: If you want to help Ark Linux development, I guess the best place to go is #ArkLinux @ irc.freenode.net. Most of the people doing the development should be there.
rei_0000: Well, Ark Linux is truely a collaborative effort much like the KDE project. We discuss and work things out over IRC on a daily basis. If you want to get involved, stop by #arklinux on irc.freenode.net and talk to the team. :)
Q6: WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BECOME A DEVELOPER? WHAT TECHNOLOGY IS ARK BASED ON?
saint: I'll let the others answer this... they seem keen to "get their teeth" into this question! I will say this - bring your enthusiasm, energy and excitement! Let's challenge the norm and make a difference.
boris: The majority of our development is done in C++ using Qt/KDE. However, you don't need to be a C++ expert to get involved. We have many projects for people to "get their feet wet" with C++, and we're always happy to help new developers. Any experience with PHP, Perl, C, scripting is also useful. If you want to become an application developer, we would recommend familiarisation with OO design principles. Ark Linux is originally based on RH 7.2, with additions from RH 8, RH 9 and MDK. We use RPM with apt for package management with KDE as the only included desktop (although we provide GTK libraries for compatibility with GTK apps).
