Woof now in maintenance mode

I started the Puppy Linux project in 2003, so I have been at it for ten years. Enough, it is finally time to retire.

I know that I have announced my retirement before, then not done it. However this time it is looking much more certain.

I don't plan to just suddenly pull the plug, rather just put Woof (and Puppy) in "maintenance mode" for the next year (or as long as I deem necessary), while a few things get sorted out.

"Maintenance mode" means that I will continue to work on Woof, but just focused on essential fixes, rather than any new features.

"Sorting things out", includes who will want to continue with hosting the Woof Fossil repository, who will be responsible for puppylinux.com. Or, if not "who", singular, then what group of people.

Raffy is hosting and managing puppylinux.org, with helpers, and John Murga is hosting the Forum, with moderator helpers, so they are taken care of.

I will likely keep my "hand in", doing some Puppy-related things. For example, I am interested in the Ubuntu Phone project, and if it does get to actual released converged phone-desktop hardware, I would like to play with that.

Another idea that I have been thinking about is to create a DEB package for Ubuntu, that "puppyfies" an Ubuntu installation. Because, that is what I do anyway, whenever I install Ubuntu. It would be nice to have one DEB to transform the user interface to a close-to-Puppy experience.

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Comments

Transition


Best wishes
Username: dionicio
"Really wish your retirement bring to you new enlightenment and joy. Your 10 years project have kept me in a profession i was about to abandon. Right now all of the IT environment does not look good. It is being extremely bullied.

Thanks
Username: Terryphi
"Thanks for all your work in the last 10 years. Playing with Puppy has taught me a lot about Linux and it has been fun. I know that your own interests have moved on from the desktop to other devices but I hope whoever you hand over to maintains Puppy as a desktop distro. There is no possible convergence. What suits a phone user does not suit a desktop user. This is shown by people deserting Ubuntu in droves for a proper desktop UI with Linux Mint.

Thanks
Username: noryb009
"Thank you for everything you have done working on puppy over the years! Through this project, you have introduced many people to Linux, myself included. You have also kept countless computers out of landfills, which is an achievement in itself! But at the end of the day, you have created a distribution that is not only small and fast, but fun to use. For that, I am thankful.

Best OfLuck and Thanks
Username: darry1966
"Hi Barry, I have to say I was very surprised and saddened to hear your stepping down however I also understand your decision and wish all the best for whatever you decide to do in future. I also wish to thank you for your great work espcially the wonderful earlier Puppies I love to tinker with and also your your newer innovations. I love the speed of Puppy and its size. Again sincerest thanks and take care.

One of 5 sites I visit daily
Username: Tony
"Hi Barry, there are 5 sites that I try to visit daily, the BBC, New Scientist, Distrowatch rasberry Pi and here. Many thanks for all your hard work over the years. Puppy has helped me many a time, saved a number of old PC's from an early grave and taught me much of what I know about Linux. If you care to share any of your future endeavors with your loyal followers we would be most happy. Have a great life Barry, a pleasure to have met you through your work, you are a true "Gent" Tony from UK

pre Retirement (18/8/08)
Username: 01micko
"Been over five years since [url=http://bkhome.org/archive/blog2/201305/loginmanager-fixed.html]this[/url] announcement by Barry, posted on 18 Aug 2008, 8:06. At that time I was only just venturing into Puppy territory! I had background in Mandrake and had played with Slackware but Puppy-3.00 put a whole different spin on Linux for me. Gone was the big red "running as root" background! (Remember that? :n_n:) I'm sure Puppy will live on, in various guises, as it lives now. It has had a much bigger bearing on my life though than simply running the OS and hacking on the distro. I was a concreter by trade but Puppy (and the community which it generated) gave me the confidence to become an ICT Professional (and save my poor old back). Thanks Barry, and the community. Cheers! Mick.

Thanks Barry of your Puppy years
Username: pemasu
"I have always liked to do it myself. 1999 our center didnt have enough email licenses for our workers. I decided to try it myself. I read through thousands of pages of linux mail - webmail - networking pages - and about what linux is. I ordered Red Hat 5.0 from Netherlands. 2000 I had my own webmail server with Red Hat 6.0 for our workers, Roxen webserver and with IMHO module. It served several years. The hardware was 133 pentium with 32 Mb RAM. Free from my employer. I had achived to create webmail server with unknown OS. From 2005 there wasnt no more need for my linux webmail server, we lastly got all needed licenses. Linux server had gone several upgrades and base distro changes during that time. I didnt use Linux from 2005 to 2009 because linux was just server OS for me. 2009 I decided to check what Puppy Linux is. I was sold immediately. I was again able to create something usable by myself. My main OS has been Puppy Linux since then and mostly I have used my own builds using woof. Barry`s work and his great woof and the community support has given me great OS. Puppy Linux also has been and will be playground to several brilliant coders whom have created hundreds of great Puppy applications to enhance OS. All these years have been really pleasant time being around. Thank you Barry of all you have done.

Thanks
Username: Iguleder
"Thank you, Barry, for everything. I've entered the Linux world in 2007 and used Puppy for about 1.5 years until I decided to make my first contribution in its forums. It felt very comfortable, because the community was so thankful and supporting. That was the moment when I decided to stick with Puppy and left all other distros. Many things changed since then (I even reached adulthood during this time, hehe). But one thing hasn't: the Puppy spirit, that sneaky art of sharing and implementing things in a lightweight way. Thanks to this special thing about Puppy, I contribute to Puppy to this day. I've gained lots of knowledge and experience which I believe makes the world a better place (for computers and people). It sounds quite tragic, but professionally, I'd be lost without my background with Puppy. Thank you, Barry - without you, this wouldn't happen. For some of us it's just another distro, but you changed my life. The "Puppy way of doing things", the great community and a small group of developers are the forces that power this great distro. You prepared the ground for today's Puppy and I'm sure the community is able to push it into the future. I really hope you're going to stick around (well, at least as a technical advisor), since you're one of the most innovative patriarchs of the live distro sector. You'll be missed.

The succession
Username: Sage
"Heartily echo appreciation and thanks. Apart from skills, these projects require innovation, persistence, and broad shoulders. As a consummate academician, glad to see you recognise the importance of '[i]the succession[/i]' to continue such a worthwhile venture; it must not be lost.

World Ends
Username: FeodorF
" World ends in 2013! Well, this is at least how it feels like - to me and to others. You made your dreams and thoughts become reality and called it 'Puppy Linux'. Barry, thank you very much for that!

Just wanted to say...
Username: starhawk2
"Godspeed, Mr. Kauler :) Ten years is a long time to be doing something. Know that the 'something' you've been doing has touched many, many people in a very positive way. That makes you a *very* good person. I only wish I was as good a person as you are... I ain't done squat because I have motivation problems and ADD (and a long, long list of other excuses ;) ).

The Best
Username: oldyeller
"Hi Barry, Thanks for the last two years of me having the best time with an OS. I have tried many but once I found Puppy I was done looking. This is truly a work of art that you have created. I n this time I have learned a lot about code and how some things work on puppy because of you and the community on the forum. Thanks for all the hard work you have done for us who love puppy. I even finally got my wife to use puppy and like me shes uses none other. Thanks Barry.

Before you leave
Username: mistfire
"Barry before you leave please finish the gui frontend of woof for the benefit of puppy linux builders. I know that you are now retiring from puppy, but you must accomplished the most important thing in puppy which is the "convenience". Just like polishing the car to be sold before giving it to the successor. You are great person and a great engineer. Good luck and more power to you.

not happy
Username: linuxcbon
"Why do you have to leave PCs for those crappy mobile phones. I have a mobile phone,it just broke, and many other broke after some weeks, pieces of junk hardware. While my PC lasts many years before breaking down. This mobile phones trend is crap too, why should I use internet on a 4 inch screen except to destroy my poor eyes... I am sorry but I will never go into that trend. I have a desktop, and I even dont buy the laptop trend, because laptops break too easily. So count me out. Sorry you leave puppy linux, because so much to do, and who will replace you ? Nobody.

I'm just starting...
Username: puppy lover
"Ever since I started using Linux, I always feel that it is not enough -- that something important is missing -- until my friend introduced me to Puppy Linux. I never knew that using Linux with the portability (with a very wide support and flexibility) of Puppy Linux can change the way I use desktops and alike. I always keep a copy of it and use it whenever my friends would ask my help to reformat their M$ machines. Aside from that, only Puppy Linux gave me my own personal OS. An OS that I, who doesn't own a computer myself, can carry anywhere with my 8 GB flash drive. I really owe this thanks to you. Thank you very much for all you've done for us. May God bless you on your journey.

phone fun
Username: L 18 L
"I can't see any reason to become "not happy". woof needs maintenance, a necessary cure. Playing with tablets and phones will be [b]fun[/b] [b]for us[/b] I am very sure. Thank you for all the hard work that you've done. <lang=de>[i]wuffwuff[/i]</lang>

Long live Puppy Linux!
Username: jamesbond
"For all who feels doom and gloom, I think it is unwarranted. While Barry may not be at the helm anymore when everything is said and one, as he himself said: "[i]I don't plan to just suddenly pull the plug[/i]" and he will hold out "[i]as long as I deem necessary[/i]" until "[i]things get sorted out[/i]". I have full confidence on him choosing the right successor(s) and/or structure to lead Puppy Linux. After all, it is his baby for the last ten years and I'm sure the least he would like to happen is to see it wither and die. In addition, Barry himself said: [i]I will likely keep my "hand in", doing some Puppy-related things[/i]. I think Barry needs and deserves a break. Maintaining Woof/Puppy [b]*is*[/b] a chore, as anyone who builds Puppies can attest. Once a while one needs to step back, look around, see the bigger picture, try other one or two new things, consider other perspectives - so one's mind is kept afresh and in the end, helps it to innovate more. The last time Barry took a break was 2008, and a result we got Quirky (whose features slowly got molded into mainstream puppies). I wonder what will come from the break this time :happy: --- but I absolutely have no doubt that whatever tinkering and experiments that Barry will do in the future will trickle back to Puppy as appropriate - even when he's no longer at Puppy's head. Thank you Barry, and long live Puppy Linux!

size
Username: aarf
""hosting the Woof Fossil repository," how big is this? how big is http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/? how big is http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/? and also anything else that needs mirroring? asking with a view to/for potential mirroring.

Re sizes
Username: BarryK
"The Woof repository is about 25MB, I think. The ibiblio.org repositories: puppylinux: 31,930MB quirky: 25,073MB Both of these should really be totally overhauled, similar to how Fatdog is on ibiblio. Old stuff can be removed, but most important, I think all sources should be hosted on ibiblio, like Fatdog does.

Thanksfor all the fish
Username: rarsa
"Wow, 10 years, what a run! and to think that I started using Puppy just 1 year after you started and I still carry it around everywhere I go (even if I don't come by as often) I truly feel you are the friend I never met (and probably never will). I hope your next endevours are as engaging to you as Puppy Linux has been. You have given us a great gift with many facets: A fully portable system, A challenge to contribute to and a reason to brag about Linux: "Hey, I carry my OS, apps and data in this USB Key!" All the best, I will keep coming by to the blog every now and then to see what you are up to. And of course, I will keep carrying the latest version of Puppy with me for as long as I can. In all these years I haven't found anything better for that purpose.

Woof2 "Mark Point"
Username: scsijon
"Barry, I'm wondering that with Woof2 in Maintenance mode if you will declair a "Mark Point" for it. For those that don't know, a Mark Point is usually declaired as a Minimal Version that changes and additions can be expected to work, files and directory content be modified against, or to be patched against. It doesn't stop changes and additions happening from other sources, it's just a referance point that can be used by anyone to work with and those using the Mark Point Items to know at what point it was used so that they can work out and allow for later additions and changes. In my case I have changes to the overall woof package in my systems for building: Mageia2 (now derated and unsupported), Mageia3, Opensuse 12.3 (32bit), Opensuse 12.3 (64bit after switch), Aboriginal Puppy (multiple bases and systems), The Wayland/Weston Systems in Puppy (my interest at the moment and forward with the 3.10+ kernels); and i'd like to at least finish documenting and Packaging the necessary changed files for the others, so I can put them up on the murga-linux board for anyone who wants to explore them further or use what I have done or learned from to go forward themselves. My own business is now getting busier and therefore "puppy time" has and must unfortunately continue to decrease (for a while at least) which is why I'm asking for the Mark Point.

Tags: puppy