Keith Lofstrom <[log in to unmask]> writes:

> I very much hope to stay connected to the "scientific"
> aspect of our community.  Making big changes together
> with other science computationalists would be easier.

I note that Debian has a science group which, unlike "Scientific" Linux,
actually provides packaging of scientific software.  As a consequence,
there is far more scientific software in Debian than in SL.  But then
there are also more packages in Debian than SL.  In addition to existing
bio and other sub-groups, just recently on the debian-science mailing
list there is discussion of spawning a HEP-specific sub-group.

As to the anxiety of making a switch, I can understand it.  I've had my
feet firmly in the Debian world for more than two decades but with at
least a big toe and sometimes a sore thumb planted in Redhat world
during that time.  So, I know the awkardness when I have to get
something done in Redhat.  I revisited it earlier this year when
upgrading some servers from RHEL 6 to 8 and dealing with all the things
that were *totally* different.  Learning the 6->8 differences was far
more time consuming than learning the more pedestrian Debian->RH
differences (eg, minor apt->dnf differences, having to get EPEL setup
instead of relying on packages just being available from Debian).  Given
the nontrivial "intra-RH" transition the Debian->RH transition was a
minor perturbation.  So, based on all that, I think someone with RH
experience should not have a problem transitioning to Debian.

After all, the Debian and Redhat OSes are not all THAT different.  They
are especially more similar when they are both together compared to the
truly proprietary OSes.

> P.S. I remember the Red Hat booth at OSCON 2014, after the
> Borging of CentOS, where I was assured that they would
> support CentOS into the distant future.  That "assurance"
> survived the IBM acquisition by 18 months.  What changes
> will 5 more years of IBM (and their formidable lega
> department, called the Nazgul by other technology lawyers)
> result in?

This is a very wise question for the community to ponder seriously.

But, my jaded prediction: we won't.

-Brett.