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Yep. And for that matter, why does a Linux distribution need them, either? In the age of CD-ROMs shipped with magazines, sure including a 'blessed' version of

by piaste 5y ago

Yep. And for that matter, why does a Linux distribution need them, either? In the age of CD-ROMs shipped with magazines, sure including a 'blessed' version of most programming languages made sense. Saved the average Linux geek from needing to hunt down a separate (physical!) package for PHP or whatever. Now, the same reasoning applies to Linux as to MacOS. Unless the OS itself relies on them (Perl?), including some random version of various PLs makes as much sense as including a bunch of shareware games.

kijin 5y ago
Most Linux distros don't come preinstalled with PHP, Ruby, or node, either. You have to install it using the package manager, and you can use the exact same package manager to pull down different versions from different repos. Honestly I wouldn't mind if some distros ditched the "blessed" version altogether for non-system languages. I can't remember the last time I used the default PHP in CentOS, it's always grossly outdated. But distros like Debian have a policy of packaging any open-source program they can get their hands on and keeping them up to date, at least when it comes to security fixes. It's their choice if they want to provide that service to their users, and many users like it.
- fogihujy 5y ago
  I regularly set up servers using the stable PHP packages. If you sell a setup to a client then you want to provide an "expiry date" for the setup when the OS goes EOL. Stable packages kept up to date with nothing but security patches makes sure whatever you set up will run for X years without you having to worry about features being deprecated. There's no need to have those versions pre-instaled though. As long as they can be installed with apt/yum then those who need them can install them.
strzibny 5y ago
One reason is that so many packages depend on them. Python and Perl is big in Fedora-based systems, for example. But even for the non-critical software, packaged WP needs PHP, packaged Vagrant needs Ruby etc. As for enterprise Linux, many customers relies on this packages, because they get reviewed and gets security patches on system updates.
ForHackernews 5y ago
Including programming languages makes it easier for kids and other beginners to get started programming. Removing general-purpose languages from operating systems makes a certain kind of sense, but it also pushes further in the direction of computers being devices for consumption, not creation.

by piaste 5y ago

kijin 5y ago

Most Linux distros don't come preinstalled with PHP, Ruby, or node, either. You have to install it using the package manager, and you can use the exact same package manager to pull down different versions from different repos. Honestly I wouldn't mind if some distros ditched the "blessed" version altogether for non-system languages. I can't remember the last time I used the default PHP in CentOS, it's always grossly outdated. But distros like Debian have a policy of packaging any open-source program they can get their hands on and keeping them up to date, at least when it comes to security fixes. It's their choice if they want to provide that service to their users, and many users like it.

fogihujy 5y ago
I regularly set up servers using the stable PHP packages. If you sell a setup to a client then you want to provide an "expiry date" for the setup when the OS goes EOL. Stable packages kept up to date with nothing but security patches makes sure whatever you set up will run for X years without you having to worry about features being deprecated. There's no need to have those versions pre-instaled though. As long as they can be installed with apt/yum then those who need them can install them.

strzibny 5y ago

One reason is that so many packages depend on them. Python and Perl is big in Fedora-based systems, for example. But even for the non-critical software, packaged WP needs PHP, packaged Vagrant needs Ruby etc. As for enterprise Linux, many customers relies on this packages, because they get reviewed and gets security patches on system updates.

ForHackernews 5y ago

Including programming languages makes it easier for kids and other beginners to get started programming. Removing general-purpose languages from operating systems makes a certain kind of sense, but it also pushes further in the direction of computers being devices for consumption, not creation.