Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Linux

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[edit] Assessment?

I think we should attempt an article assessment first of all, before mandating articles to focus on. What do you think? - Samsara (talk • contribs) 17:45, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I agree, however, an article assessment is going to be very hard with just 2 people. I think that getting a scope on the Linux articles of Wikipedia will be difficult without 4+ members. Are there any real big Linux contributors that would lend time to this? --T. Moitie [talk] 18:29, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
Wait two days and see what happens. ;) - Samsara (talk • contribs) 19:15, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
I've just seen the effort you've put forward to all those Wikipedians. Thanks. The amount of people you posted to is incredible. I guess we can say, yea, an assessment would be a good idea. How do you propose we do it now? Surely giving articles assessments would require some kind of an info box on the talk page, something we've agreed on as a bad idea (for now). Would we need to create some more sub pages on the Project? --T. Moitie [talk] 20:54, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Todo

You may wish to use the {{todo}} template. - Samsara (talk • contribs) 18:04, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Just added it and am now using it. --T. Moitie [talk] 20:55, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Portal:Free software

What's this project's relationship with Portal:Free software? — a thing 03:29, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, most free software on that portal is GPL, and most GPL software is for Linux. I think Linux software has to be GPL, but I wouldn't be too sure. I know the OS has to be open source, and Red Hat was commercialising it with RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) which was basically free OS but not so free bundled apps and support. --Draicone (talk) 11:56, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
Yes. Basicly when you buy RHEL (which, now it comes to it, it is one the articles I had my eye on as needing work), you pay for the support, and the license fees for support for non-free stuff such as MP3 support. Of course some distributions give the user the option to break the law with the idea that they trust you have gone and paid the license fees yourself. --T. Moitie [talk] 12:41, 28 July 2006 (UTC)


No. Linux software does not have to be GPL. Most libraries are LGPL licensed to make it possible to write proprietary software using these libraries. Some people believe this should be encouraged, because a lot of software ends up as open source once it stops being profitable, or as the software becomes more complex and the support business model becomes more attractive, and distributing the source becomes helpful in customer acquisition. A lot of proprietary software is actually available for Linux, some of which does not cost money. Check out Adobe Reader and Ahead Nero; Mathematica is an example of software you have to buy licenses for, and is typical of a number of products that are used in academic environments, where Linux is also popular (as, incidentally, is OS X). - Samsara (talk • contribs) 12:55, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I mean, why is this separate from the free software portal? — a thing 01:03, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

A portal is not a project. A portal is a summary page offering directions concerning a particular field, "featured" articles, "featured" pictures, etc. And as people have pointed out, there is some overlap, but not quite enough, so I guess we wouldn't be maintaining the portal. - Samsara (talk • contribs) 01:06, 29 July 2006 (UTC)


Well, if anyone does want to contribute to Portal:Free software, you're welcome. The focus of the portal is not just GPL. The portal focuses on Linux, BSD, GNU, X11, Firefox, OpenOffice, and anything that is free software. So the scope is broader in some ways, because "free software" includes BSD, and the scope is narrower in some ways, because "related to Linux" presumably includes non-free software which runs on GNU/Linux, such as Macromedia Flash and Sun's Java.

One benefit that I see in drawing the boundary on a concept like "free software" instead of a technology such as "Linux" is that the latter's boundary isn't clear to me. Is Macromedia's flash player "related to Linux" by virtue of their being some versions available for GNU/Linux? Is OpenSSH "related to linux" by virtue of their being some versions available for GNU/Linux? I'm not looking for answers, they're just example questions that I think will be more difficult for a "linux" centred project than it is for something centred on "free software".

But that's an implementation detail, and even if one implementation is better or worse than the other, for a successful project the important thing is to capture people's area of interest.

One thing that Portal:Free software is a bit weak on is techy info. The idea of the portal is that if someone is interested in free software and they want to see what Wikipedia has to offer, they can "Enter via the free software door". Portal:Free_software does a pretty good job, IMHO, of this for legal and ethical aspects, but it doesn't have much to offer to a tech. I plan on improving this, but if someone thinks they can do a better job then they'd probably be right. Gronky 01:34, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

I think we should have a Portal:Platform battles, where each major operating system gets dissed in equal amounts. With occasional features on why BSD is evil, why Minix sucks, and why DOS was the best thing ever. :D </joking> - Samsara (talk • contribs) 10:22, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
But DOS was the best thing ever... pschemp | talk 14:45, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

This project should be broadened to all free software. That would seem a better direction. --Ashawley 23:40, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Salutations

Having been given a nod in the direction of this project, I am interested in participating. If there is some need for assessment of qualifications, let me know, otherwise I'll not parade my arrogance any more than necessary. I would like, however, to expand upon the project's stated goals. I offer the following suggestions for consideration:

  • That the first goal, which as of this writing reads "To create a better resource for Linux distributions on the wikipedia." should perhaps be something more like "To improve the quality and expand the range of Linux-related articles on Wikipedia."
  • The second goal, which as of this writing reads "To not confuse non-linux users, and to lend insight on how Windows isn't the only operating system." should be divided amongst its components, to create two new goals that might be something like: "To improve articles such that they would serve as useful to beginners and experts alike, by providing both simple and more technical descriptions." and "To spread awareness of Linux, in a respectful and realistic manner, to other Wikipedians."
  • And some additional goals:
    • To establish a consistent definition of the term "Linux" for use by this WikiProject and, by extension, throughout Wikipedia.
    • To respect the differences between distributions while maintaing a point-of-view that shows no preference for any specific distributions.
    • To recognize both the strengths and weaknesses of Linux, and convey neither with undue emphasis or lack thereof.

Food for thought?—Kbolino 07:34, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I've taken your first 2 points and incorporated them into the goals section. Thanks, my wording was less than desirable. Your point on establishing a consistent definition for Linux seems more like a short term goal. It is however important. There seems to be no boundary when talking about Linux and the Linux Kernel.
The point on respecting differences and recognising the strengths and weaknesses of Linux is something we should be taking into consideration for everything we write anyway, as per WP:NPOV. Do you really see it as a goal? What do other people think?
--T. Moitie [talk] 13:39, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
Unfortunately, since Wikipedia aspires to be an encyclopaedia, we cannot define the meanings of things outside of their normal context. In the real world, the term "Linux" is ambiguous, and may refer to the kernel or the whole distribution including GNU, and this reference work must reflect that. Anything else would be neologism, which is explicitly prohibited. Articles such as GNU/Linux naming controversy already explicitly address the ambiguity. - Samsara (talk • contribs) 14:05, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Linux Article Index

greetings. I got the message on my talk page to take look at this project. I will try to help out to the best of my ability, but life take up too much of my free time and I don't have much to spend on wikipedia any more. After quickly looking it over the first thing that came to mind to improve the project is to organize the linux articles with some sort of list. I am one of the founding members of the Final Fantasy project, and what we did there was create an index for that purpose. On our main page, we should also organize all the FA and GA articles that are linux related for others to see. I have a couple other ideas I'm playing with that I'll throw out at you guys at a later time. --ZeWrestler Talk 17:26, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] OpenBSD

OpenBSD is definately not directly related to Linux. BSD was originally based on a non-GPL licenced copy of Unix. The only thing that links it to Linux in that way is it is based on Unix originally. What do you think? Should we include Open BSD in our scope? --T. Moitie [talk] 20:43, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

No. It's already featured anyway. - Samsara (talk • contribs) 20:45, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
I was talking about how it was listed in State of Affairs. It isn't anymore. Problem resolved :) --T. Moitie [talk] 02:21, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to start

I propose we should start by taking some of the Good Articles to Featured Article status, one by one. We currently have five of these:

I'm not really going to suggest going for the last three, as they're quite technical and probably do better with a smaller, more specialised group of editors. - Samsara (talk • contribs) 23:24, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I think that GNOME would be a good place to start. The application itself has a massive userbase, and it is pre-installed on many Linux operating systems as default. I've had a browse around for user statistics and found none, but I'd stick my neck out and say about half (maybe less) of all end-Linux users use it. It is to this end that the GNOME article needs to be as informative as possible without alienating the newbie users. If we made it to featured article status, it would possibly advocate to non-linux users the GUI side of Linux, something that hasn't really been done too much. The GNOME article appeals to a lot broader audience than the other articles so it has my back. Would it be better if we moved this list of articles to Mini Collab? --T. Moitie [talk] 02:30, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
Note also that KDE has a pretty strong article -- it would likely be a GA if not for the lack of references. Twinxor t 03:27, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
GNOME first, KDE second, Linspire third? I should also point out that the Fedora Core article is quite reasonable, with good referencing so far. Debian, on the other hand, is well-written but unreferenced. - Samsara (talk • contribs) 18:42, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
Right, so unless theres any more input, we should get started on the GNOME article. I'll start tomorrow. --T. Moitie [talk] 21:42, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
Sorry about that, yesterday was a bit messed up. I've had to endure a pretty hefty personal attack culminating in my name being on the WP:AN board and the WP:PAIN board for little to no reason, the person in question put under indefinite block. I've made a to do list on GNOME's talk page. How do you think we should start this? --T. Moitie [talk] 13:38, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dreamlinux

Dreamlinux is up for deletion. I added little stuff, maybe you can help to improve. It's 86 on distrowatch down from 67. So it's not just little dist. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 09:38, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Happening again. It's geexbox this time: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Geexbox. - Samsara (talk • contribs) 00:16, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Linux Kernel API

The Linux Kernel API article desperately needs an expansion, It looks terrible. Ido50 00:30, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Common Unix Printing System

Common Unix Printing System is up for a featured article review. Detailed concerns may be found here. Please leave your comments and help us address and maintain this article's featured quality. Sandy 14:37, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Emacs

Emacs is up for a featured article review. Detailed concerns may be found here. Please leave your comments and help us address and maintain this article's featured quality. Sandy 19:56, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ubuntu (Linux distribution)

Ubuntu (Linux distribution) is up for a featured article review. Detailed concerns may be found here. Please leave your comments and help us address and maintain this article's featured quality. Sandy 16:45, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Just to update, it lost FA status. 0L1 | Talk | Contribs 20:02, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Project directory

Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 00:04, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Work needed on Unix commands

Many of the articles on Unix command line programs are in poor shape -- they could use copyediting, expansion, and good examples. See Template:Unix commands for links to many of them. Twinxor t 17:33, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Translation of Geschichte von Linux

I've copied the article for the translation here:Wikipedia:WikiProject Linux/Translatation:Geschichte von Linux Mike92591 18:08, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template wording

I've changed the wording of Template:Linuxproject as it implied that we owned the articles - as it stood we couldn't add it to articles we hadn't touched. I've changed to 'in the scope of' the project which is better. Secretlondon 01:53, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Group-Office

I've asked for the article on Group-Office to be undeleted. If you would like to comment, specifically concerning the notability of the software, you may do so here. - Samsara (talk • contribs) 21:35, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Linux project article template with parser functions

I'm not sure what the current policy is on the usage of templates for Linux articles, but I've prepared a template which uses the parser functions to add information concerning Wikipedia 1.0. See the template at Template:tuxproj; adding it to talk pages will allow the usage of arguments, such as:

{{tuxproj|class=GA|importance=Mid|selected=yes}}

I think this would be useful for preparing articles for Wikipedia 1.0 inclusion. function msikma(user:UserPage, talk:TalkPage):Void 19:46, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Category:Linux articles?

How does the project's list of articles relate to the list at Category:Linux? Should we slavishly move all of those inot the project list? -Arch dude 16:55, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

We don't really need to.Mike92591 17:15, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Adding to the index

On the index, there are several pages with the WP:LINUX template on them that are not in the index. Should I add these to the list? Also, if I want to add pages to the project, should I just add the template or is there more to do? Thanks, 0L1 Talk Contribs 18:38 8/12/2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mozilla Firefox FAR

Mozilla Firefox has been nominated for a featured article review. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. Please leave your comments and help us to return the article to featured quality. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, articles are moved onto the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article from featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. Reviewers' concerns are here. Sandy (Talk) 21:56, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia Day Awards

Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 17:47, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Translatation:Geschichte von Linux"?

Whoever started that page seems to have misspelled "translation". I propose it be moved to Wikipedia:WikiProject_Linux/Translation:Geschichte_von_Linux --Pete Iriarte 19:04, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

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