MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-04-08 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Panelists call for lightweight Linux
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Panelists call for lightweight Linux
Merits of simpler Linux distribution debated at ClusterWorld
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service April 07, 2004
SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- Linux users and distributors were divided on the
question of whether Linux distributions should become simpler or more
complex during a panel discussion on the future of Linux cluster
distributions that took place here at the ClusterWorld Conference & Expo
here Tuesday.
In the last few years, clusters of commodity computer systems running the
Linux operating system have come to dominate the world of high performance
computing, once the exclusive domain of proprietary vendors like Cray Inc.
And though Linux systems comprise more than half of the machines on the
Top500 Supercomputer Sites list of the world's fastest supercomputers, the
open source operating system still has room for improvement, according to
panelists at the show.
Rusty Lusk, a senior computer scientist with Argonne National Laboratory
called on Linux distribution vendors to build smaller, more lightweight
Linux distributions based on a modular, more easily managed architecture.
This kind of approach would reduce the complexity inherent in Linux and
reduce the "dependency" problems that occurs when different programs require
different versions of the software libraries that are included in Linux, he
said. "With big distributions there are so many problems with version
dependencies," Lusk said.
One systems integrator on the panel agreed that a lightweight distribution
would help manage Linux's complexity. "Having that minimal installation, and
then being able to build on it, at least for our customers, is a real
important aspect," said Henry Hall, the president of Wild Open Source Inc.,
based in Burlington, Massachusetts.
Hall also called for tools that would allow users to track and audit changes
they made to these basic kernels. "I think that would be a real asset to any
individual distribution," he said.
But Donald Becker, one of the creators of the Scyld Linux distribution,
predicted that distributions would become more rather than less complex. "I
think we're going to see the completely opposite approach," said Becker, who
is also the chief technical officer with Penguin Computing Inc. in San
Francisco.
Scyld, for example looks to add as many different packages as possible to
its distribution, but it also give customers the option of "ignoring"
components they do not need, he said.
Scyld has reduced these dependencies by cutting down on the number of
languages that are used to build the different components of its
distribution, Becker said. "That means restricting the set of languages and
libraries that we use internally," he said.
SuSE Linux AG would like to create a more customizable version of its Linux
distribution, but at this point is not exactly sure how to address this
issue said Timothy Beloney, an original electronics manufacturer account
developer with SuSE. In recent months, SuSE's parent company, Novell Inc.,
has formed a team to address the high-performance computing market, he said.
"There is no mainstream Linux distribution that addresses the cluster market
head on, and I want SuSE to be the first to do that," he said. "We would
like to have something that's customizable by everyone; we're not sure
exactly how that's going to happen," he said.
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