[OpenIndiana-discuss] abandoned support for OpenOffice, Miozilla Firefox, Adobe Flash, etc.

[Reginald Beardsley]

I'm running Firefox 13.0 on OI_151a5.  That's  not up to date, but certainly more recent.  It was not difficult to do the updates. I simply installed the Solaris Firefox 13.0 from the Firefox site.

Have you attempted to update Firefox, OpenOffice, etc and encountered a problem?

Not everything in the OpenIndiana repositories is up to date.  That doesn't mean that newer releases won't run.  It just reflects that the people working on OI have other priorities than solving problems that have simple solutions.

I've not used it myself, but as I understand, OI is already able to run Linux codes in branded zones. So I think you're asking for something that was done some time ago.  I typically build from source code and rarely encounter problems doing that. It also means I have no reason to run Linux binaries.

OI is a much smaller community than Linux.  So there are things that need to be done that there is no one with the time to do it.  I'd like to encourage you to help out.  It may be a stretch goal, but I expect you can do it if you make the requisite effort.

I recently spent almost 20 hours figuring out how to set up a file server the way I wanted.  Now I can do it in an hour. But I had to eat a lot of failures to get there. I also got a lot of help from the community. Once I figured it out I wrote it up on the wiki to help others. So try.  If you fail ask for help.

To quote an old proverb.  "Trust in God, but hobble your camel."  You need to do your part.

Have Fun!
Reg


--- On Sat, 2/9/13, jlane59 at cox.net <jlane59 at cox.net> wrote:

> From: jlane59 at cox.net <jlane59 at cox.net>
> Subject: [OpenIndiana-discuss] abandoned support for OpenOffice, Miozilla Firefox, Adobe Flash, etc.
> To: "OpenIndianaDiscuss" <openindiana-discuss at openindiana.org>
> Date: Saturday, February 9, 2013, 9:39 PM
> For your consideration:
> 
> Support for several programs that I really enjoy has been
> discontinued for the OpenSolaris / OpenIndiana
> platforms.  It won't be long 
> before FireFox 3.6.12 becomes unacceptably obsolete ... and
> OpenOffice 3.1.0 ... and Thunderbird 3.2.4 ... and Adobe
> Flash ... and ??  
> The unfortunate result is that with no continuing support
> from software providers, OpenIndiana is gradually drifting
> toward obsolescence.
> 
> 
> Please know that my understanding of programming is basic
> and mostly conceptional and I have just about zero
> experience.  So, 
> what I am about to offer might be based on a
> misunderstanding of what would be in involved.
> 
> Would it be possible to modify some select segments of
> OpenIndiana code to accommodate programs that are tailored
> to run on one 
> of the major Linux Distributions?  And, most
> importantly, while making the necessary alterations, do not
> effect the "look and feel" of 
> OpenIndiana (as OpenIndiana has not changed the 'look and
> feel" of OpenSolaris).
> 
> 
> If I correctly understand the nature of the GNU General
> Public License, the Free Software Foundation, copyleft
> licensing, etc., I believe 
> it should be possible to copy and adapt some of the
> pertinent source code segments and libraries directly from
> the Linux kernel and/or 
> from a major Linux distribution.  I imagine that the
> required modifications would probably not be as extensive as
> designing that support 
> rom scratch ... though it would certainly be more involved
> than a simple "copy and paste". 
> 
> If (as example) Debian source code is fairly close to
> OpenIndiana, with regard to support for a specific
> web-browser (let's say FireFox), 
> then the program, its libraries, and updates (as run on
> Debian or Debian derived LinuxOS) could be applied directly
> and unchanged to 
> OpenIndiana.  Thus, a copy of the FireFox program for
> Debian (and its updates) would work as cleanly on
> OpenIndiana as they do on any 
> of the Debian derived Linux OS (Ubuntu, Linspire, Knoppix,
> etc).
> 
> If the above can be acomplished, a "Debian flavored" copy of
> a program and updates (again if I correctly understand GNU
> GPL licensing) 
> could be added to the OpenIndiana repository.  
> 
> I regret that I don't have the knowledge or talent to
> provide a real and working illustration, but I am sure that
> a more knowledgeable person 
> will understand what I propose.
> 
> 
> If OpenIndiana cannot be updated and kept current, how long
> before a user is forced to change operating system to keep
> up with new 
> program features and new hardware or to view new (and even
> the 'not so new' multimedia formats)?  
>  
> 
> 
> 
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