Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Buddhaghosa Tradition

Buddhaghosa was a scholar, erudite and a compulsive researcher who vitalized the dying Pali Tradition (Pali was killed by Sinhala Theravada Tradition- in other word "Sinhalen Bhana").

His biggest failure was that he has to wait until the Mettyya Buddha to appear in eons time to realize Nibbhana.

In other words Buddhist Meditation is to practice NOW and not later as envisaged, by Buddhagosa.

I have a copy of Visuddhimagga with me to remind me that the literary exercise is futile in the long run and the copy of Vimuttimagga (The path of FREEDOM) is much shorter and precise.

This is to counteract a distortion made by a senile guy who writes to the Island Paper for recreation of some sort.

Sometimes, I have to wake up from my slumber to awaken the misguided masses.

Reproduction from WiKiPedia and not my View!

Buddhaghosa Tradition
Buddhaghosa with three copies of Visuddhimagga, Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara
Occupation Buddhist monk
Era 5th century
Movement Theravada Buddhism
Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Indian Theravada Buddhist commentator, translator and philosopher.
 He worked in the Great Monastery (Mahāvihāra) at Anurādhapura, Ceylon and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajjavāda school and in the lineage of the Sinhalese Mahāvihāra. 
 
His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga ("Path of Purification"), a comprehensive summary of older Sinhala commentaries on Theravada teachings and practices. According to Sarah Shaw, in Theravada this systematic work is "the principal text on the subject of meditation."
 The interpretations provided by Buddhaghosa have generally constituted the orthodox understanding of Theravada scriptures since at least the 12th century CE.
 He is generally recognized by both Western scholars and Theravadins as the most important philosopher and commentator of the Theravada, but is also criticized for his departures from the canonical texts.

Name

The name Buddhaghosa means "Voice of the Buddha" (Buddha+ghosa) in Pali, the language in which Buddhaghosa composed. In Sanskrit, the name would be spelled Buddhaghoṣa (Devanagari बुद्धघोष), but there is no retroflexing sound in Pali, and the name is not found in Sanskrit works.

Biography

Limited reliable information is available about the life of Buddhaghosa.
Three primary sources of information exist: short prologues and epilogues attached to Buddhaghosa's works; details of his life recorded in the Mahavamsa, a Ceylonese chronicle; and a later biographical work called the Buddhaghosuppatti.
 A few other sources discuss the life of Buddhaghosa, but do not appear to add any reliable material.
The biographical excerpts attached to works attributed to Buddhaghosa reveal relatively few details of his life, but were presumably added at the time of his actual composition. Largely identical in form, these short excerpts describe Buddhaghosa as having come to Ceylon from India and settled in Anuradhapura.
 Besides this information, they provide only short lists of teachers, supporters, and associates of Buddhaghosa, whose names are not generally to be found elsewhere for comparison.
 The Mahavamsa records that Buddhaghosa was born into a Brahmin family in the kingdom of Magadha.
 He is said to have been born near Bodh Gaya, and to have been a master of the Vedas, traveling through India engaging in philosophical debates.
 Only upon encountering a Buddhist monk named Revata was Buddhaghosa bested in debate, first being defeated in a dispute over the meaning of a Vedic doctrine and then being confounded by the presentation of a teaching from the Abhidhamma.
 Impressed, Buddhaghosa became a Bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) and undertook the study of the Tipiṭaka and its commentaries.
On finding a text for which the commentary had been lost in India, Buddhaghosa determined to travel to Ceylon to study a Sinhala commentary that was believed to have been preserved.
In Ceylon, Buddhaghosa began to study what was apparently a very large volume of Sinhala commentarial texts that had been assembled and preserved by the monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya.

 
 Buddhaghosa sought permission to synthesize the assembled Sinhala-language commentaries into a comprehensive single commentary composed in Pali.
 Traditional accounts hold that the elder monks sought to first test Buddhaghosa's knowledge by assigning him the task of elaborating the doctrine regarding two verses of the suttas; Buddhaghosa replied by composing the Visuddhimagga.
 His abilities were further tested when deities intervened and hid the text of his book, twice forcing him to recreate it from scratch.
 When the three texts were found to completely summarize all of the Tipiṭaka and match in every respect, the monks acceded to his request and provided Buddhaghosa with the full body of their commentaries.
 Buddhaghosa went on to write commentaries on most of the other major books of the Pali Canon, with his works becoming the definitive Theravadin interpretation of the scriptures.
 Having synthesized or translated the whole of the Sinhala commentary preserved at the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya, Buddhaghosa reportedly returned to India, making a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya to pay his respects to the Bodhi Tree.
 The details of the Mahavamsa account cannot readily be verified; while it is generally regarded by Western scholars as having been embellished with legendary events (such as the hiding of Buddhaghosa's text by the gods), in the absence of contradictory evidence it is assumed to be generally accurate.
 While the Mahavamsa claims that Buddhaghosa was born in northern India near Bodh Gaya, the epilogues to his commentaries make reference to only one location in India as being a place of at least temporary residence: Kanci in southern India.
 Some scholars thus conclude (among them Oskar von Hinüber and Polwatte Buddhadatta Thera) that Buddhaghosa was actually born in South India and was relocated in later biographies to give him closer ties to the region of the Buddha.
 The Buddhaghosuppatti, a later biographical text, is generally regarded by Western scholars as being legend rather than history.
 It adds to the Mahavamsa tale certain details, such as the identity of Buddhaghosa's parents and his village, as well as several dramatic episodes, such as the conversion of Buddhaghosa's father and Buddhaghosa's role in deciding a legal case.
It also explains the eventual loss of the Sinhala originals that Buddhaghosa worked from in creating his Pali commentaries by claiming that Buddhaghosa collected and burnt the original manuscripts once his work was completed.

Commentarial style

Buddhaghosa was reputedly responsible for an extensive project of synthesizing and translating a large body of ancient Sinhala commentaries on the Pāli Canon. His Visuddhimagga (Pāli: Path of Purification) is a comprehensive manual of Theravada Buddhism that is still read and studied today.
 Maria Heim notes that, while Buddhaghosa worked by using older Sinhala commentarial tradition, he is also "the crafter of a new version of it that rendered the original version obsolete, for his work supplanted the Sinhala versions that are now lost to us".

Writing style

Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu writes that Buddhaghosa's work is "characterized by relentless accuracy, consistency, and fluency of erudition, and much dominated by formalism."
 According to Richard Shankman, the Visuddhimagga is "meticulous and specific," in contrast to the Pali suttas, which "can be vague at times, without a lot of explanatory detail and open to various interpretations."

Method

According to Maria Heim, Buddhaghosa is explicitly clear and systematic regarding his hermeneutical principles and exegetical strategies in his commentaries.
He writes and theorizes on texts, genre, registers of discourse, reader response, Buddhist knowledge and pedagogy.
 Buddhaghosa considers each Pitaka of the Buddhist canon a kind of method (naya) that requires different skills to interpret. One of his most important ideas about exegesis of the Buddha's words (buddhavacana) is that these words are immeasurable, that is to say, there are innumerable ways and modes to teach and explain the Dhamma and likewise there are innumerable ways in which to receive these teachings.
 According to Heim, Buddhaghosa considered the Dhamma to be "well-spoken visible here and now, timeless," visible meaning that the fruits of the path can be seen in the behavior of the noble ones, and that comprehending the Dhamma is a transformative way of seeing, which has immediate impact.
 According to Heim, this idea of the transformative and immediate impact of the scriptures is "vital to Buddhaghosa's interpretative practice," concerned as he is with the immediate and transformative impact of the Buddha's words on his audiences, as attested in the suttas.
 Regarding his systematic thought, Maria Heim and Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad see Buddhaghosa's use of Abhidhamma as part of a phenomenological "contemplative structuring" which is expressed in his writings on Buddhist praxis.
 They argue that "Buddhaghosa’s use of nāma-rūpa should be seen as the analytic by which he understands how experience is undergone, and not his account of how some reality is structured."

Yogacara influences

Some scholars have argued that Buddhaghosa's writing evinces a strong but unacknowledged Yogācāra Buddhist influence, which subsequently came to characterize Theravada thought in the wake of his profound influence on the Theravada tradition.
 According to Kalupahana, Buddhaghosa was influenced by Mahayana-thought, which were subtly mixed with Theravada orthodoxy to introduce new ideas.
According to Kalupahana, this eventually led to the flowering of metaphysical tendencies, in contrast to the original stress on anattā in early Buddhism.
 According to Jonardon Ganeri, though Buddhaghosa may have been influenced by Yogacara Vijñānavāda, "the influence consists not in endorsement but in creative engagement and refutation."

Theory of consciousness

The philosopher Jonardon Ganeri has called attention to Buddhaghosa's theory of the nature of consciousness and attention. 

Ganeri calls Buddhaghosa's approach a kind of "attentionalism", which places primacy on the faculty of attention in explaining activities of thought and mind and is against representationalism.
 Ganeri also states that Buddhaghosa's treatment of cognition "anticipates the concept of working memory, the idea of mind as a global workplace, subliminal orienting, and the thesis that visual processing occurs at three levels."
 Ganeri also states:

Buddhaghosa is unlike nearly every other Buddhist philosopher in that he discusses episodic memory and knows it as a reliving of experience from one’s personal past; but he blocks any reduction of the phenomenology of temporal experience to the representation of oneself as in the past. The alternative claim that episodic memory is a phenomenon of attention is one he develops with greater sophistication than has been done elsewhere.
Ganeri sees Buddhaghosa's work as being free from a mediational picture of the mind and also free of the Myth of the Given, two views he sees as having been introduced by the Indian philosopher Dignāga.

Meditation

Vipassanā and Vipassana movement
 The Visuddhimagga's doctrine reflects Theravada Abhidhamma scholasticism, which includes several innovations and interpretations not found in the earliest discourses (suttas) of the Buddha.
 Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga includes non-canonical instructions on Theravada meditation, such as "ways of guarding the mental image (nimitta)," which point to later developments in Theravada meditation.

 
 According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "the Visuddhimagga uses a very different paradigm for concentration from what you find in the Canon."

 
 Bhante Henepola Gunaratana also notes that what "the suttas say is not the same as what the Visuddhimagga says they are actually different," leading to a divergence between a [traditional] scholarly understanding and a practical understanding based on meditative experience. 

Gunaratana further notes that Buddhaghosa invented several key meditation terms which are not to be found in the suttas, such as "parikamma samadhi (preparatory concentration), upacara samadhi (access concentration), appanasamadhi (absorption concentration)." 

Gunaratana also notes that the Buddhaghosa's emphasis on kasina-meditation is not to be found in the suttas, where dhyana is always combined with mindfulness.
 Bhikkhu Sujato has argued that certain views regarding Buddhist meditation expounded in the Visuddhimagga are a "distortion of the Suttas" since it denies the necessity of Jhana.
 The Australian monk Shravasti Dhammika is also critical of contemporary practice based on this work.
 He concludes that Buddhaghosa did not believe that following the practice set forth in the Visuddhimagga will really lead him to Nirvana, basing himself on the postscript to the Visuddhimagga:

Even Buddhaghosa did not really believe that Theravada practice could lead to Nirvana. His Visuddhimagga is supposed to be a detailed, step by step guide to enlightenment. And yet in the postscript he says he hopes that the merit he has earned by writing the Vishuddhimagga will allow him to be reborn in heaven, abide there until Metteyya (Maitreya) appears, hear his teaching and then attain enlightenment.

According to Sarah Shaw, "it is unlikely that the meditative tradition could have survived in such a healthy way, if at all, without his detailed lists and exhaustive guidance."
 Yet, according to Buswell, by the 10th century Vipassana was no longer practiced in the Theravada tradition, due to the belief that Buddhism had degenerated, and that liberation was no longer attainable until the coming of Maitreya.

 
 It was re-introduced in Myanmar (Burma) in the 18th century by Medawi (1728–1816), leading to the rise of the Vipassana movement in the 20th century, re-inventing Vipassana-meditation and developing simplified meditation techniques, based on the Satipatthana sutta, the Visuddhimagga, and other texts, emphasizing Satipatthana and bare insight.

Attributed works

The Mahavamsa ascribes a great many books to Buddhaghosa, some of which are believed not to have been his work, but composed later and attributed to him. Below is a listing of the fourteen commentaries (Aṭṭhakathā) on the Pāli Canon traditionally ascribed to Buddhaghosa
Tipitaka Buddhaghosa's
commentary
from the
Vinaya Pitaka 		Vinaya (general) Samantapasadika
Patimokkha Kankhavitarani
from the
Sutta Pitaka 		Digha Nikaya Sumangalavilasini
Majjhima Nikaya Papañcasudani
Samyutta Nikaya Saratthappakasini
Anguttara Nikaya Manorathapurani
from the
Khuddaka Nikaya 		Khuddakapatha Paramatthajotika (I)
Dhammapada Dhammapada-atthakatha
Sutta Nipata Paramatthajotika (II),
Suttanipata-atthakatha
Jataka Jatakatthavannana,
Jataka-atthakatha
from the
Abhidhamma Pitaka 		Dhammasangani Atthasālinī
Vibhanga Sammohavinodani
Dhatukatha Pañcappakaranatthakatha
Puggalapaññatti
Kathavatthu
Yamaka
Patthana

 

While traditional accounts list Buddhaghosa as the author of all of these works, some scholars hold that only the Visuddhimagga and the commentaries on the first four Nikayas as Buddhaghosa's work. 

Meanwhile, Maria Heim holds that Buddhaghosa is the author of the commentaries on the first four Nikayas, the Samantapasadika, the Paramatthajotika, the Visuddhimagga and the three commentaries on the books of the Abhidhamma.
 Maria Heim also notes that some scholars hold that Buddaghosa was the head of a team of scholars and translators, and that this is not an unlikely scenario.

Influence and legacy

In the 12th century, the Ceylonese (Sinhalese) monk Sāriputta Thera became the leading scholar of the Theravada following the reunification of the Ceylonese (Sinhala) monastic community by King Parakramabahu-I.
 Sariputta incorporated many of the works of Buddhaghosa into his own interpretations.
 In subsequent years, many monks from Theravada traditions in Southeast Asia sought ordination or re-ordination in Ceylon, because of the reputation of the Ceylonese (Sinhala) Mahavihara lineage for doctrinal purity and scholarship.
 The result was the spread of the teachings of the Mahavihara tradition— and thus Buddhaghosa— throughout the Theravada world.
 Buddhaghosa's commentaries thereby became the standard method by which the Theravada scriptures were understood, establishing Buddhaghosa as the definitive interpreter of Theravada doctrine.
In later years, Buddhaghosa's fame and influence inspired various accolades.
His life story was recorded, in an expanded and likely exaggerated form, in a Pali chronicle known as the Buddhaghosuppatti, or "The Development of the Career of Buddhaghosa".
 Despite the general belief that he was Indian by birth, he later may have been claimed by the Mon people of Burma as an attempt to assert primacy over Ceylon in the development of Theravada tradition.
 Other scholars believe that the Mon records refer to another figure, but whose name and personal history are much in the mold of the Indian Buddhaghosa.
 Finally, Buddhaghosa's works likely played a significant role in the revival and preservation of the Pali language as the scriptural language of the Theravada, and as a lingua franca in the exchange of ideas, texts, and scholars between Ceylon and the Theravada countries of mainland Southeast Asia. The development of new analyses of Theravada doctrine, both in Pali and Sinhala, seems to have dried up prior to Buddhaghosa's emergence in Ceylon. In India, new schools of Buddhist philosophy (such as the Mahayana) were emerging, many of them making use of classical Sanskrit both as a scriptural language and as a language of philosophical discourse.
 The monks of the Mahavihara may have attempted to counter the growth of such schools by re-emphasizing the study and composition in Pali, along with the study of previously disused secondary sources that may have vanished in India, as evidenced by the Mahavamsa.
 Early indications of this resurgence in the use of Pali as a literary language may be visible in the composition of the Dipavamsa and the Vimuttimagga, both dating to shortly before Buddhaghosa's arrival in Ceylon.
 The addition of Buddhaghosa's works— which combined the pedigree of the oldest Sinhala commentaries with the use of Pali, a language shared by all of the Theravada learning centers of the time— provided a significant boost to the revitalization of the Pali language and the Theravada intellectual tradition, possibly aiding the Theravada school in surviving the challenge to its position posed by emerging Buddhist schools of mainland India.
 According to Maria Heim, he is "one of the greatest minds in the history of Buddhism" and British philosopher Jonardon Ganeri considers Buddhaghosa "a true innovator, a pioneer, and a creative thinker."
 Yet, according to Buddhadasa, Buddhaghosa was influenced by Hindu thought, and the uncritical respect for the Visuddhimagga has even hindered the practice of authentic Buddhism.

Notes

    1. See also Bronkhorst (1993), Two Traditions of Meditation in ancient India; Wynne (2007), The Origin of Buddhist Meditation; and Polak (2011), Reexaming Jhana
    2. Devotion to Metteya was common in South Asia from early in the Buddhist era, and is believed to have been particularly popular during Buddhaghosa's era.

References


  1.
  • (v. Hinüber 1996, p. 103) is more specific, estimating dates for Buddhaghosa of 370–450 CE based on the Mahavamsa and other sources. Following the Mahavamsa, (Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, p. xxvi) places Buddhaghosa's arrival as coming during the reign of King Mahanama, between 412 and 434 CE.
  • Gethin, Rupert, Was Buddhaghosa a Theravādin? Buddhist Identity in the Pali Commentariesand Chronicles, 2012.
  • Stede, W. (October 1951). "The Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosācariya by Henry Clarke Warren; Dharmananda Kosambi". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (3/4): 210–211. JSTOR 25222520.
  • Stede, D. A. L. (1953). "Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosācariya by Henry Clarke Warren; Dharmananda Kosambi". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 15 (2): 415. doi:10.1017/s0041977x00111346. JSTOR 608574.
  • Ñāṇamoli, 1999, Introduction p. xxxvii
  • Heim, Ram-Prasad, In a Double Way: Nāma-rūpa in Buddhaghosa’s Phenomenology, Philosophy East and West, University of Hawai'i Press.
  • Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism by Dan Lusthaus. RoutledgeCurzom: 2002 ISBN 0700711864 pg 106 n 30
  • Ganeri, 2018, 32.
  • Ganeri, 2018, 31.
  • Ganeri, 2018, 34.
  • Kalupahana, David J. (1994), A history of Buddhist philosophy, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
  • For instance, regarding the Khuddha Nikaya commentaries, (v. Hinüber 1996, pp. 130–1) writes:
Neither Pj [Paramattha-jotika] I nor Pj II can be dated, not even in relation to each other, except that both presuppose Buddhaghosa. In spite of the 'Buddhaghosa colophon' added to both commentaries ... no immediate relation to Buddhaghosa can be recognized.... Both Ja [Jataka-atthavannana] and Dhp-a [Dhammapada-atthakatha] are traditionally ascribed to Buddhaghosa, an assumption which has been rightly questioned by modern research....
  • Ganeri, 2018, p. 30.
  • S. Payulpitack (1991), Buddhadasa and His Interpretation of Buddhism
  1. Buddhadasa, [https://www.dhammatalks.net/Books6/Bhikkhu_Buddhadasa_Paticcasamuppada.htm Paticcasamuppada: Practical Dependent Origination]

Sources

  • Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli (1999), "Introduction", in Buddhaghosa (ed.), Visuddhimagga: The Path of Purification, translated by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, Seattle: Buddhist Publication Society, ISBN 
  • Bullitt, John T. (2002), Beyond the Tipitaka: A Field Guide to Post-canonical Pali Literature, retrieved 2009-04-07
  • last Buswell, Robert, ed. (2004), Encyclopedia of Buddhism, MacMillan
  • Crosby, Kate (2004), "Theravada", in Buswell, Jr., Robert E. (ed.), Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, USA: Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 836–841, ISBN 
  • Ganeri, Jonardon (2017), Attention, Not Self, Oxford University Press
  • Heim, Maria (2013), The Forerunner of All Things: Buddhaghosa on Mind, Intention, and Agency, USA: OUP USA
  • Heim, Maria (2018), Voice of the Buddha: Buddhaghosa on the Immeasurable Words, Oxford University Press
  • Hinüber, Oskar von (1996), A Handbook of Pali Literature, New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., ISBN 
  • Kalupahana, David J. (1994), A history of Buddhist philosophy, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
  • McMahan, David L. (2008), The Making of Buddhist Modernism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 
  • Pranke, Patrick A. (2004), "Myanmar", in Buswell, Jr., Robert E. (ed.), Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, USA: Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 574–577, ISBN 
  • Rogers, Henry Thomas, trans. (1870): Buddhaghosha's Parables / translated from Burmese. With an Introduction, containing Buddha's Dhammapada, or "Path of Virtue" / transl. from Pâli by F. Max Müller, London: Trübner.
  • Shankman, Richard (2008), The Experience of Samadhi: An In-depth Exploration of Buddhist Meditation, Shambhala
  • Shaw, Sarah (2006), Buddhist Meditation: An Anthology of Texts from the Pali Canon, Routledge
  • Sponberg, Alan (2004), "Maitreya", in Buswell, Jr., Robert E. (ed.), Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, USA: Macmillan Reference USA, ISBN 
  • Strong, John (2004), "Buddhaghosa", in Buswell, Jr., Robert E. (ed.), Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, USA: Macmillan Reference USA, p. 75, ISBN 

Further reading


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Sunday, June 14, 2020

The Fundamental Rights Petitions Relating to The General Elections

Reproduction and not my VIEW!

The Fundamental Rights Petitions Relating to The General Elections

Nigel Hatch, President’s Counsel

June 12, 2020, 4:47 pm


The five Judge Bench of the Supreme Court by its decision on June 2, 2020 speaking through its majority rejected the preliminary objections raised by the Respondents to the maintainability of the several Fundamental Rights (FR) petitions challenging the legality of the presidential proclamation of March 2 dissolving Parliament. A Petition impugning the date of elections fixed by the Elections Commission for June 20 was withdrawn midstream. However the Court unanimously refused the Petitioners leave to proceed with their FR applications.

Thus far no reasons have been given by the Supreme Court for the decision after 10 days of hearing and it appears that none will be proffered. The Constitution provides that an FR application may be proceeded with, only with leave to proceed first granted by Court. Such leave may be granted or refused by Court. The practice of the Supreme Court has been not to proffer reasons when leave is refused.

Whilst the Court deserves overall public acclamation for rejecting the preliminary objections which straddled alleged infractions of time bars, lack of necessary parties and un-reviewability by Court of a presidential decision, nevertheless the refusal of leave to proceed without reasons for such refusal is with due respect to the Court, regrettable having regard to the significant constitutional issues raised.

These unsuccessful FR petitions focused on hitherto un-litigated and significant issues in constitutional law relating to the powers of the President and the Elections Commission as regards fixing a date for parliamentary elections and the administrative task of holding that election. Concomitantly the validity of the presidential proclamation of March 2 as the election could not be held on the due date and the implied resuscitation of the dissolved Parliament were also in contention.

At the core of this case were fundamental issues pertaining to the sovereignty of the people and also the separation of powers between the President and Parliament. Whilst the 19th Amendment empowered the President to dissolve Parliament after four and a half years of its full five year term, the questions of whether a dissolved Parliament can be re-summoned and whether Parliament can be inoperative for more than three months were also matters in issue. The Supreme Court as a repository of the people’s sovereignty was called upon to arbiter these questions.

Sri Lanka’s constitutional history since independence has been replete with contentious issues between the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. On balance the Courts have not hesitated to preserve their own sphere of power as exemplified by the decision on the constitutionality of the new Tax Bill in 2017 where this writer successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to rule that a pernicious clause which violated judicial independence required both a 2/3 majority and approval by the people at a referendum. That Clause was dropped by the former government and not proceeded with. Moreover the recent unanimous decision of a seven Judge Bench of the Supreme Court which struck down President Maithripala Sirisena’s dissolution of Parliament illustrates that the Court has also intervened to check the unlawful exercise of presidential power.

To this writer the issues as regards fixing the date of the parliamentary general elections were clear. Constitutionally it is the President of the Republic who on a dissolution of Parliament either prior to its full term or on the expiration of its full term by proclamation fixes a date for the general election and summons the new Parliament to meet not later than three months from the date of that proclamation [Article 70(5)]. There is thus a trimester or a three month period within which this must be done. The constitutional responsibility of conducting such election is vested with the Elections Commission (EC). The date fixed by the President for the holding of such election cannot be varied by the EC. Once such date is fixed by the President the only power the EC possesses as regards conducting an election on that date under the Parliamentary Elections Act No. 1 of 1981 is to not hold a poll in an electoral district and appoint another date instead, or declare a poll in affected polling stations void in certain exceptional contingencies [Sections 24(3) and 48A of that Act].

The EC if unable for whatever cause to hold the general election on the date fixed by the President cannot arrogate to itself the power of substituting another date. Neither should the President acquiesce in that action. The intervention of the global pandemic of COVID-19 which rendered the holding of the election on April 25 not possible did not empower the Commission to subsequently fix it for June 20 in the first instance, which date the EC subsequently informed Court could not be adhered to. These powers of the EC enumerated above are fixed by statute and are subordinate to the power vested in the President under the Constitution. In the legal hierarchy the Constitution is the supreme norm and statutes are subordinate, although Courts do endeavour where possible to harmonize them.

There have been several writings and positions in the public domain as regards the issues surrounding these cases. I do not propose to deal with all of them. However there has been to my mind some misstatement, perhaps unwittingly, of what should be the applicable legal approach.

Some writers have suggested that the doctrines of "constitutional exceptionalism" and "necessity" applied to the unexpected situation presented by the pandemic. "Exceptionalism" and "necessity" are cognate legal doctrines which seek to provide for a departure from an existing norm or rendering lawful, which is unlawful. Necessity has most often been invoked to justify a military takeover after a coup d’état. In this writer’s view neither necessity nor exceptionalism can justify any abdication or usurpation of the President’s power to fix the date of the parliamentary elections.

The President was regrettably ill advised on his constitutional responsibilities with regard to fixing a date for the general election. The constitutional duty of fixing the date of an election is solely vested with the President and what he ought to have done is to issue a fresh proclamation with a subsequent fresh date of election which provided also for the date for the new Parliament to meet within the three month trimester. This would have left time for the abatement of the pandemic and the holding of the elections. Hence the constitutional norm could have been adhered to. The President is in any event vested with the constitutional authority to summon a dissolved Parliament where he is satisfied that an emergency has arisen of such a nature that an earlier meeting of Parliament is necessary [Article 70(7)]. The fact that this would have revived the dissolved Parliament albeit for a brief period is not a justifiable consideration. The EC has now fixed the elections for August 5. The Gazette announcing that date relies on Section 24(3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act which in this writer’s view is inapplicable. Although this is now a fait accompli, there should have been adherence to the Constitution with the President fixing the date.

Another recent article cited the judgment of the Supreme Court in 1999 authored by Mark Fernando J. in Karunatillake V. The Elections Commission on the failure of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to hold Provincial Council elections and their periodic postponement. The observation by Court that the Commissioner of Elections (precursor to the EC) was legally competent to fix the date of Provincial Council elections was made in the context of the then President postponing such elections by Emergency Regulations. The legal regime governing parliamentary elections and Provincial Council elections are distinct. The power to fix the date of Provincial Council elections is vested by the Provincial Councils Elections Act No. 2 of 1988 in the EC. It certainly does not apply to the present situation where the President as aforesaid is solely constitutionally responsible for fixing the date of a general election.

There have also been concerns that what the President has done in the present context is tantamount to "hyper-presidentialism" where he has been allegedly ruling by Decree without Parliament. This constitutional/political concept originated from developments in certain Latin American countries and the Philippines where the Constitution provides for a directly elected President and presidentialism in these systems has enabled the arrogation of additional powers to the presidency who can issue Decrees with minimal accountability to the Legislature although impeachment exists. The present constitutional position in Sri Lanka is entirely different.

The Prime Minister and Cabinet emanate from Parliament which is an integral part of the sovereignty of the people. Neither the PM/Cabinet nor Parliament can be bypassed or dispensed with by a President who thereafter seeks to rules by Decree. That would be a flagrant violation of the Constitution. It must be not be lost sight of that Sri Lanka has a semi-presidential system with diminished presidential powers after the 19th Amendment. However eternal vigilance is the essential price of liberty.

Another misconception is that a decision of the President which is within his discretion is immune from judicial review. This is untenable in law since, as succinctly stated by our Supreme Court quite a while ago; there are no unfettered or unreviewable discretions or authority to any organ or body established under the Constitution. Besides, the decision against President Sirisena’s purported dissolution of Parliament is a case in point.

This writer does not wish to speculate as to the legal grounds on which the Court refused leave to proceed. As a political scientist and former Ambassador opined before June 2, elections even if delayed, are better than no elections. This writer agrees with this but reiterates that the constitutional norm should have been adhered to.

Refusal by the Supreme Court of leave to proceed of an FR application cannot establish a precedent as the merits have not been considered. It may have some persuasive value if reasons for the refusal were given. However, the June 2 decision of the Supreme Court was cited by the Respondents in opposition to the FR application by the UNP which canvassed the non-summoning of Parliament as allegedly no fresh grounds were adduced beyond what was already placed before Court in the prior applications. This FR application was withdrawn.

The Supreme Court is the apex Court in our Constitution and is vested with the task of interpreting the Constitution and ensuring that other organs of government and State agencies abide by it. Hopefully the Court may reconsider the non-proffering of reasons in such significant cases in the future. This writer recalls a conversation with a retired Judge of the Supreme Court with academic credentials who did agree that in the jurisdictions where the Court has a discretion in granting leave there may be a compelling argument for the Court to proffer such reasons in appropriate cases where leave is refused. It is respectfully submitted that the FR applications which culminated on June 2 was one such instance.
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Linux Commands


Linux Commands

 Linux has a unique way of doing things in a black terminal with commands.
The moment one presses Enter, following a command, it executes the command briskly.
First command, I probably typed was ping in Unix.
The first response or information one may get is the command not found, if there is a Typo.
All commands are in simple letters, never begins with a Capital.
Let me list a few of them here for a beginner.

If, I remember right;
xinit & in Unix terminal or startx (starting a graphical 
front end) killall (if stuck with a command and no response) and exit were the first few commands, I learned.
I did not have the fortune of using a Unix Box, but thanks to early Linux Live CDs, I began a long journey and every book published on Linux was purchased and read, not from cover to cover by the way.
I practiced line by line without a Guru (Book was my Guru).
 
Unix Made Easy by John Muster and The Joy of Linux by
Michael Hall and Brian Proffitt were the inductors, hard to find then and now in the bookstores.
 
I collected all the books written on Linux from Linux Bible to all the Redhat Books from Redhat 7 to 8 and later Fedora 6.
 
Later, I gave up with Fedora and the Linux commands to Graphic intensive Suse.
I gave up Suse when it turned commercial with service edition to boast.
I went to Singapore to buy a service edition but they never obliged.
That was the reason for giving it up.
Then exclusively used Mandrake and Mandriva till it wound up in France.
 
Thankfully Mageia has taken it forward.

Finally, I settled downed with Debian, Peppermint and Pinguy (Pin-or the Merit Guy). PClinux and FullMonty are worth their titles.
 
EOS (Endless OS) is a recent addition worthwhile mentioning, now available in Live Base DVD.

Knoppix is my gold standard and Puppy is my favorite.
Sorry Guys/Girls if I failed to mention all the other distributions I used, but strangely enough, I rarely used Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Lubuntu.
I had some aversion to Ubuntu, a point I cannot justify or rectify.
Most probably the lack of books but now there are journals in Linux and Ubuntu.

Coming back to commands,
cd
pwd
ps
ls
cat,
date,
who
grep
awk
sort
wc
echo
more
less were the ones that followed ping.
There are thousands of commands now one needs to know only a few in working life.


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Open Source Mobile OS Alternatives To Android

Reproduction and not my View!

About Abhishek Prakash

I am a professional software developer, and founder of It's FOSS. I am an avid Linux lover and open source enthusiast.
I use Ubuntu and believe in sharing knowledge.
Apart from Linux, I love classic detective mysteries.
I'm a huge fan of Agatha Christie's work.

Open Source Mobile OS Alternatives To Android

It’s no exaggeration to say that open source operating systems rule the world of mobile devices. Android is still an open source project, after all. But, due to the bundle of proprietary software that comes along with Android on consumer devices, many people don’t consider it an open source operating system.
 So what are the alternatives to Android?
iOS?
Maybe, but I am primarily interested in open source alternatives to Android. I am going to list not one, not two, but seven alternative, Linux-based mobile OSes.

Top Open Source alternatives to Android

Let’s see what open source mobile operating systems are available.
Just to mention, the list is not in any hierarchical or chronological order.

1. Tizen

Tizen is an open source, Linux based mobile operating system. It is often dubbed an official Linux mobile OS, as the project is supported by the Linux Foundation.
 Apart from the Linux Foundation, the Tizen project is supported by tech giants Samsung and Intel. Initially slotted for late 2013 release, it was only in January 2015 that the first Tizen phone, the Samsung Z, was released in the South Asian market.
Unfortunately, the Samsung Z failed to get much attention in a competitive Indian market.
 Despite being based on Linux, Tizen OS has been marred by security issues. Quite frankly, I don’t see a bright future for Tizen OS. It is just a matter of time before the plug is pulled from this project.
  

2. Plasma Mobile
 A few years back, KDE announced its own open source mobile OS, Plasma Mobile. Plasma Mobile is the mobile version of the desktop Plasma user interface, and aims to provide convergence for KDE users.
 The OS is in the development phase and can be tested on a few devices, like LG Nexus 5.

3. PostmarketOS

PostmarketOS (pmOS for short) is a touch-optimized, pre-configured Alpine Linux with its own packages, which can be installed on smartphones.
 The idea is to enable a 10-year life cycle for smartphones. You probably already know that, after a few years, Android and iOS stop providing updates for older smartphones. At the same time, you can run Linux on older computers easily. PostmarketOS wants to achieve the same on the mobile platform, by tweaking Linux into a touch-optimized platform.
 Don’t get too excited. PostmarketOS is in very early phases of development, and it is most likely that you won’t be able to use it like a regular smartphone yet.

4. PureOS/Librem

Ubuntu’s convergence efforts did not materialize, but this has not deterred others from their convergence dreams.
 Convergence, in simple terms, is having the same operating system running on desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Ubuntu tried it and abandoned the project. Windows also failed at it.
 The security and privacy focused company Purism has its own PureOS Linux distribution. They are also working on a Linux-based, secure smartphone called Librem5. Purism claims that PureOS is convergent, and Librem smartphones will run it. Apart from PureOS, it can run GNOME and KDE, with Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE, Fedora. and even Arch Linux.
 The motto of the Librem is to be a “phone that focuses on security by design and privacy protection by default. Running Free/Libre and Open Source software and a GNU+Linux Operating System designed to create an open development utopia, rather than the walled gardens from all other phone providers”.
 It’s more of a Linux-based smartphone rather than a Linux-based smartphone OS, but I believe that the convergent PureOS should be able to run on other devices with some tweaks.
 Interested in it?
Check out Librem 5 specifications and availability.

5. Ubuntu Touch by UBports

The king of desktop Linux world, Ubuntu decided to expand its territory with its open source mobile operating system, Ubuntu Touch. Keeping convergence in mind, Canonical (the parent company of Ubuntu) ambitiously launched a $32 million crowdfunding campaign to build the first Ubuntu Phone, Edge. Though it failed to get the desired amount, it still set a new record, with over $12 million pledged to the campaign.
 After the failed crowdfunding campaign, Canonical teamed up with some device manufacturers to launch Ubuntu Phone. Spanish manufacturer BQ became the makers of the first device running Ubuntu Touch in February, 2015. It was soon followed by Chinese manufacturer Meizu. Those first few devices were aimed at developers, which is the reason I advised people not to buy the BQ Ubuntu Phone at the time.
 Two years and a few Ubuntu-based phones later, Canonical finally decided to call it quits on their mobile OS. However, UBports is still trying to keep Ubuntu Touch alive.
 With UBports’ efforts, Ubuntu Touch recently saw OTA 12 update.
There are a handful of devices that are supported by Ubuntu Touch.

6. LuneOS

LuneOS is an open-source mobile OS based on Linux kernel.
It may not be a feature-rich alternative to Android (of course!).
However, it is the successor to Palm/WebOS.
 The last release was at the end of 2018. Since then, there have been no updates to the project so far.
 The good thing about LuneOS is – if your device is compatible with CyanogenMod, it will most probably work on LuneOS. It is being maintained by WebOS Ports with no recent updates to it.

Open Source projects based on Android (free from Google)

Most of the above open source mobile operating systems you saw so far are under development and not available for a wide range of mobile hardware.
 Don’t despair. There are a few projects that are based on Android but customized to remove Google services from it. These Android distributions are open source and you can customize them to your liking.
 If you are looking for an open source alternative to mainstream Android, these projects could be a good choice.

7. LineageOS and Replicant (open source Android distributions)

LineageOS was created after the much more successful Android distribution CyanogenMod was discontinued.
LineageOS is a fork of CyanogenMod.
 Though Replicant was founded back in 2010 by a couple of Free Software groups, it now uses the source code of LineageOS as the base.

8. /e/ (previously known as eelo)

Previously known as eelo, /e/ is a non-profit project started by the developer of Mandrake Linux.
It is an Android distribution, and the idea is to have an open source mobile operating system free from Google.
 /e/ replaces Google services with its own services, with the promise to not track you or sell your data to advertisers like Google. /e/ will also utilize open source alternatives as much as possible.
 /e/ is in active development and you can try to install it on a range of devices already. You can even buy refurbished devices preinstalled with /e/.
That is one of the several ways of supporting the /e/ project.

Partial open source mobile OS

I think it’s worth mentioning a few projects that are not fully open source but they are challenging the duopoly of Android and iOS.

9. Kai OS (partially open source)

Kai OS is going to be the world’s third most popular mobile operating system. Chances are, you haven’t heard of it.
 Not your fault really. KaiOS was only released in 2017, and yet it is powering a huge number of mobile phones in just under two years.
 So, what’s the secret here? Unlike other mobile operating system, Kai OS doesn’t target the high-end, touch phones. Instead, it provides smartphone-like functionality to feature phones.
 Feature phones, or basic phones, are inexpensive, and having smartphone-like functionality makes them an attractive and affordable device.
 Kai OS is based on Linux, as it is a fork of a fork of now defunct Firefox OS (mentioned later). Kai OS is not completely open source. Only the Linux Kernel modifications are open sourced, rest is closed source.
 You can gauge the potential of Kai OS from the fact that it runs on over 100 million devices and Google has invested $22 million in it.

10. Sailfish OS (partially open source)

When Nokia decided to ditch the MeeGo mobile OS project, few unsatisfied Nokia employees decided to keep MeeGo alive in the form of Sailfish OS. Their flagship product Jolla has met with moderate success, and has a dedicated fan following. MeeGo was supposed to be continued by Linux Foundation in the form of Tizen, but over the time Tizen evolved on its own and cannot be termed a MeeGo derivative anymore.
The same is true for Sailfish OS, the core OS of which is based on the Mer project, which itself is based on the work from MeeGo.
 While Sailfish OS created some buzz among early adopters thanks to the Jolla devices, the company seems to be struggling.
 Sailfish OS is not entirely open source.
However, you could consider it as an option when you are looking for a mobile OS other than Android and iOS.

Honorable Mention: Firefox OS [Discontinued]

Firefox OS was an open source project from Mozilla Firefox, the parent company of the famous open source web browser. It created quite some ripples with the announcement of Firefox O- based smartphones that cost only $25. The aim was to target emerging markets such as Brasil and India.
 Unfortunately, the low price tag alone could not make Firefox OS the Raspberry Pi of mobile devices, and, like Tizen, Firefox OS did not have any success with its ZTE devices. Firefox now plans to shift its focus from low cost devices to user experience with Firefox OS.
 What do you think?
 When I first wrote this article a few years ago, I was hopeful for some of these alternative mobile OSes. However, the present situation is gloomy, and I don’t think any OS listed here is going to make a mark. It’s not like I don’t want them to be a success, I am just being honest here.
 What do you think of these Android alternatives?
Do you think these Linux based mobile OS will leave their mark or will they struggle for a decent market share like desktop Linux?

PINEPHONE – “Community Edition:

UBports” Limited Edition Linux SmartPhone

  • The “Community Edition: UBports” Limited Edition PinePhone is aimed primarily at UBports community members, willing to run their OS on a mainline Linux and provide feedback to UBports developers.
  • The “Community Edition: UBports” Edition PinePhone comes with UBports OS build installed. Please note that the OS build is still in a beta stage, and while most core functionality (phone calls, SMS messages, LTE, GPS and GPU acceleration) works, some elements remain a work-in-progress.
  • Estimate dispatch in late May 2020. Due to COVID19 pandemic causing reduce flight and country border closing, the PinePhone can only order alone and other PINE64 items, such as PinePhone accessory, needs to be order separately.
  • For every “Community Edition: UBports” Limited Edition PinePhone sold,  the Pine Store will donate USD $10 (per unit) to UBports Foundation.
BODY:
  • Dimensions: 160.5mm x 76.6mm x 9.2mm
  • Weight: 185 grams
  • Build: Plastic with UBPorts logo
  • Colour: Black
  • SIM: Micro-SIM
DISPLAY:
  • Type: HD IPS capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
  • Size: 5.95 inches
  • Resolution: 1440×720 pixels, 18:9 ratio
PLATFORM:
  • OS: UBPorts with Lomiri GUI
  • Chipset: Allwinner A64
  • CPU: 64-bit Quad-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A-53
  • GPU: MALI-400
MEMORY:
  • Internal Flash Memory: 16GB eMMC
  • System Memory: 2GB LPDDR3 SDRAM
  • Expansion: micro SD Card support SDHC and SDXC, up to 2TB
CAMERA:
  • Main Camera: Single 5MP, 1/4″, LED Flash
  • Selfie Camera: Single 2MP, f/2.8, 1/5″
  • SOUND:
  • Loudspeaker: Yes, mono
  • 3.5mm jack with mic: Yes, stereo
COMMUNICATION:
  • Worldwide, Global LTE bands
  • LTE-FDD: B1/ B2/ B3/ B4/ B5/ B7/ B8/ B12/ B13/ B18/ B19/ B20/ B25/ B26/ B28
  • LTE-TDD: B38/ B39/ B40/ B41
  • WCDMA: B1/ B2/ B4/ B5/ B6/ B8/ B19
  • GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
  • WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, single-band, hotspot
  • Bluetooth: 4.0, A2DP
  • GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
FEATURES:
  • USB: type C (SlimPort), USB Host, DisplayPort Alternate Mode output
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, ambient light, magnetometer(compass)
  • Actuator: Vibrator
  • Privacy Switches: LTE (include GPS), Wifi/BT, Mic, and Camera
BATTERY:
  • Removable Li-Po 2750-3000 mAh battery
  • Charging: USB type-C, 15W – 5V 3A Quick Charge, follows USB PD specification
PACKAGE:
  • PinePhone
  • USB-A to USB-C charging cable
Warranty: 30 days
Note:
  • The “Community Edition: UBports” Limited Edition PinePhone is aimed primarily at UBports community members, willing to run their OS on a mainline Linux and provide feedback to UBports developers.
  • Since the PinePhone contains a Lithium-ion battery, the shipment of PinePhone orders will be handled differently from other Pine64 products. This is why we didn’t allow combining the PinePhone with other Pine64 product orders. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
  • Small numbers (1-3) of stuck or dead pixels are a characteristic of LCD screens. These are normal and should not be considered a defect.
  • When fulfilling the purchase, please bear in mind that we are offering the PinePhone at this price as a community service to PINE64 and UBports communities. If you think that a minor dissatisfaction, such as a dead pixel, will prompt you to file a PayPal dispute then please do not purchase the PinePhone. Thank you.
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Saturday, June 13, 2020

Kiss OS or Kill OS?

Reproduction and not my VIEW!

This past week I had a chance to look at a project I have been hoping to find time to try for a while now, KISS. 
The project's website describes KISS as follows:
An ? independent Linux distribution with a focus on simplicity and the concept of less is more. The distribution targets only the x86-64 architecture and the English language.
The website goes on to list a number of key features the KISS project provides:
  • Uses a plain-text package system which is language agnostic and parseable with basic UNIX utilities.
  • Uses a package manager written in 600 lines of POSIX sh (excluding blank lines and comments).
  • Based on musl libc, BusyBox and the Linux kernel.
  • All shell code is linted by and passes shellcheck (including each and every repository package).
  • All packages are compiled from source by the package manager which automatically handles dependencies, patches, etc.
The KISS project appears to be aiming to create a very minimal operating system with a simple design. One that is transparent and can be both audited and understood relatively easily. The default environment is quite small and minimal in terms of features. Default tools tend to be written in shell scripts rather than binary programs, making it possible for administrators to quickly view and edit the utilities.

KISS seems to be crafted in such a way that the operating system will do very little automatically, leaving the user to build, install, and configure software in a mostly manual process.

Installing

The KISS project does not provide bootable ISO or IMG files. To install KISS we need another Linux distribution, or a live CD that can download a package and set up the KISS operating system in a chroot environment. First we download an archive that contains the KISS userland utilities. Then we can use the existing operating system or live CD to partition the disk, compile our own kernel, and install a boot loader.

The KISS environment is a 27MB download and we can optionally download a companion tool which sets up the chroot environment for us. We need to format a partition to use for KISS, mount it under a directory such as /mnt, unpack the KISS archive into this directory and then run the KISS chroot tool. This locks us into the KISS environment where we can run a series of commands listed in the project's documentation to set up the operating system.

From there we need to use the project's package manager, called kiss, to download, build, and install additional tools. These include filesystem support, the Linux kernel, optionally wireless networking tools, and a boot loader.

What I found was, after setting up a new partition and mounting it, all I was doing was copying and pasting commands from the KISS website into a terminal. 
In essence just running "kiss build package ; kiss install package" over and over. It feels like this could all have been handled by a simple, one-page shell script which could have acted as a system installer for KISS.

Some people may read that above paragraph and conclude that I have entirely missed the point of KISS. The idea seems to be that the project does not do any hand holding and the user should do everything manually. After all, everything can be customized. However, I think there are three arguments against this line of thinking - and in favour of having a scripted installer. The first is that virtually everyone who installs KISS needs to run the same handful of commands, and will need to do so every time they go through the setup process. There is no variety or flexibility in the required commands, meaning there is no benefit to doing them manually. The second reason I would like to see this process scripted is it is easy for humans to make typos (which I did during one run-through) while a script never mis-types. My third argument is KISS provides a script to set up the initial chroot environment to assist users and avoid mistakes. If creating the chroot can be scripted, then why not the unchanging commands that immediately follow?

The philosophy of scripting installs aside, one of the few really manually parts of setting up KISS is downloading, configuring, and building the Linux kernel. We may optionally also need to download firmware blobs. How to do this is briefly covered in the KISS documentation, enough to probably get beginners through the process. However, customizing the kernel or enabling extra hardware support is not covered.

After that we need to install a boot loader (examples using GRUB to boot the operating system are shared in the documentation) and then we can exit the chroot and reboot the computer. Assuming we completed all the steps correctly and we do not need any special hardware support, then we should be able to boot into our new KISS operating system.

Early impressions

Assuming all went well during the setup process, KISS successfully boots into minimal, text-based environment where we can sign in as the root user. To be honest, the first time through I made a typo while installing GRUB and KISS (understandably) did not boot for me, but I was able to use the live environment and chroot to fix GRUB and get things working. Once we sign into the root account we can explore an environment that is mostly provided by BusyBox. 

There are no manual pages, virtually no user accounts, background services, or a working network connection.
We do have access to a working compiler (thanks to the GNU Compiler Collection) and a small repository of software through the kiss package manager. We can use the dhcpcd command to enable networking, even setting this script to run at start-up to make our lives easier. Then we can use kiss to install new packages we need.

A fresh install of KISS used about 20MB of RAM on my machine and 3.2GB of disk space, including the kernel sources and firmware I had saved to the filesystem during the initial install. Once I had removed the source code and firmware packages KISS consumed about 1GB of disk space.

Software management

One of the few utilities the operating system includes is kiss, the package manager. The kiss utility can search for software in the project's repositories, download, build, and install new packages. It can also upgrade existing packages and list installed items. New packages are always built from source code.

The default repositories are quite small and this meant most of my searches for new packages returned no results. I found it easiest to browse the on-line repository from the project's GitHub account. If we need additional software there are third-party, community repositories with more software.

As KISS is a minimal operating system, the user is left to build on it and develop what they need. 

We can turn KISS into a platform for just about anything, assuming we have the time and skills to install and configure the necessary software. There is virtually no hand holding though, we are expected to know what we are doing without manual pages, on-line support, or (for the most part) automation.

Conclusions

KISS is a project people will probably only want to use if they have a particular project or goal in mind. It is not particularly practical as a day to day operating system and, I would argue, it is not meant to be. The philosophy, work, and approach on display at the KISS project are all very interesting, and I will come back to those in a moment, but first I want to address the elephant in the room.

KISS, while described as a Linux distribution on the project's website, is not a Linux distribution by any definition I have encountered and I'd question whether it should be considered an operating system. There are three reasons I make this observation. The first is that KISS cannot bootstrap itself, it needs another operating system to get it up and running. Most operating systems can be booted from a DVD or USB thumb drive and install themselves. KISS requires we have a Linux distribution on hand to install it. This makes me question whether KISS is an operating system or, more likely, a meta operating system.

The second reason I believe KISS should not be considered a complete operating system (or a Linux distribution) is it does not include a kernel. Userland and package management tools are included, but there is no kernel by default. A kernel must be added separately by the user and it is hard to consider any project an operating system if it does not have a kernel included.

Which brings me to my third reason KISS is not a Linux distribution: the project does not distribute Linux. The KISS archive does not include Linux, and the package manager does not recognize any Linux package. KISS in no way provides or manages the Linux kernel which makes it very difficult to consider KISS a Linux distribution. Or even Linux-related, except that its userland is unlikely to work out of the box with any other kernel.

All of that is to say I do not think we can regard KISS as a Linux distribution or expect it to work like Linux distributions generally do. There is no direct apples-to-apples comparison we can make between a project like KISS and other do-it-yourself projects like Arch Linux or Tiny Core Linux. 
An argument could be made that KISS is a meta distribution similar to Gentoo where users are expected to compile and customize their operating systems in detail with very little assistance. 
KISS provides a distribution-like framework, like Gentoo, to help us craft our own operating system.

With all that being said, I do think KISS is a very interesting project and one worth looking at, especially if you are among those who feel operating systems are too bloated or enable too many features. KISS is really striving to trim the fat off Linux-based operating systems and related open source software, removing optional features and cutting out unnecessary tools. There is a patch provided in the KISS documentation, for example, which removes the need to have Perl installed before building Linux which nearly cuts the time required to perform the initial setup process in half. That is the sort of efficiency I can support.

The KISS project is always looking at ways to remove extra stuff users do not need, or that end-user programs do not require. The KISS blog often reports on changes to packages which greatly reduce their size, like this one which mentions Python's package size was trimmed by about 90-100MB. This work does not only benefit KISS users, the work is open source. 
Any distribution, whether it is Fedora, Debian, or Arch can benefit from this kind of refinement. Upstream projects can also look at the work KISS is doing and cut out libraries or options which are not needed and which, when removed, do not negatively affect users.

All of this is to say that I am very intrigued and in support of the work the KISS project is doing. 
I would certainly not want to run KISS on a workstation or server I was using day to day - the manual effort involved would drag my work to a crawl. 
However, the work to reduce software size and improve performance that KISS is engaging in (and which is explained on the project's blog) will almost certainly benefit all of us in the long run. 
I hope the packagers of mainstream Linux distributions are paying attention to KISS because we can all appreciate faster, slimmer software, especially if the features we use are still maintained.

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Thursday, June 11, 2020

Debian the Winner

Debian the Winner
I am writing this with Live Debian Gnome Session, while installing the same on a external hard disk, that I recovered from by ripping off two of my 32 bit computers.
I actually pulled out even the motherboard so that I could use the metal frame of the desktop and tower for a slipping footsteps (it is raining cats and dogs now) to our home.
Barring the superlatives, most of the new Linux distributions I could not install, probably due to faulty Grub Software.
They include, PCLinuxMagnum, Open Mandriva, Peppermint-10, Absolute Linux and even Ubuntu.
However the Ubuntu derivative BackBox (for hackers) was OK.
They are not for my PC and probably for only Laptop installation.
My laptop runs on Debian 10 but my PC runs on Debian 9, perfectly OK, I won't try installing 10.

So for fun, I installed Debian Plasma (lovely desktop) and currently installing Gnome Desktop.

By the way, RubeccaBlack probably a derivative of Open Mandriva is an excellent Linux distribution (short on packages, though) to try.

They all have plasma desktop and RubeccaBlack has a lovely new Western Desktop.
Neat Work.
Thanks all boys and girls of Linux Developer Crowd.
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Tuesday, June 9, 2020

When One is troubled with Windows What one can do?

When One is troubled with Windows What one can do?

It is strange that when one is troubled with Windows he or she goes into shell and blame oneself and not the operating system.
It is the opposite when one is troubled with Linux.
If he / she is a one who comes from the Windows background without batting an eyelid he / she blames the distribution as if the whole hell has descended on him / her. 
It is often a minor glitch he or she has overlooked to configure or may be downloading a suitable alternative package or worse come file a bug report to which a ready solution is available within 6 weeks.
 
If that does not help one can swap the distribution and select one that suits and download it.
(I have two books already available, not digital yet selecting a distribution and also the utilities and packages, if this blog entry is not adequate enough).

One problem with this approach is if one is not using a torrent download (even this can be painful if there is one seeder who has gone into hibernation at night-simply has switched off the computer) it can be time consuming. 

The download time can be awfully long and painful (I have enough of stories often due to failure of the Telecoms but never complain or do not complain at all, because I download several at a time and I know one will be finished by morning when I am in deep sleep and dreaming some bizarre episode of Cloud Computing and the like and Star Wars of yesteryear).

But once one has a CD (ideally D.V.D with almost everything one needs in one pack) the live session is breezy and installation is cakewalk if not catwalk.

Only thing Linux guys forget is to keep it running 24 hours (cron jobs at midnight are vital to get rid of the junk files that collect if one switches off the computer regularly; leave seeds for others to access) at least once or twice a week.
If you are lazy use a the sweeper or do it manually which I prefer now because of the frequent downloads.

Now come to Window guys/girls.
Steps.
 
1. Do not blame yourself.
 
2. It is often the operating system at fault.
 
3. It can be due to a corrupt file or large macro sitting on the file and spying on you.
 
4. The pet devise to blame is the latest virus and I bet you you will not have a solution this side of 6 months.
 
With so many holes in the operating system which Microsoft will never able plug and then they will promise you the new version is very beautiful (but very slow to run unless you doubled up your RAM) and one should change and upgrade and said to be working better (of course till the next ultra new version is ready for upgrade).

You are in this vicious cycle (V.C) and never get out of it.

If a guy of my age descends on me with a problem, I do not try to convert the guy to Linux fearing one gets a heart attack.
I ask a few questions.
If it it a pirated copy.
If the answer is yes, thrash the pirated copy and get a copyrighted version.
This is, I am openly campaigning for the guy to remain with Microsoft.
Microsoft should be happy with my efforts now but I do not charge anything for this advice.
 
The poor guy has to pay through his nose anyway.
 
Do not forget the virus guard and that also will cost you some quids.
Get somebody to format and install, I won't do that for you unless he or she wishes to have a Linux distribution dual booted.
 
He has to spend a half a day with me with food and beverages ready and ample.
 
(This is Christmas time anyway).

If the guy has not got the money, then the scenario changes.
I ask what are the things that he uses computer for, regularly.
Invariably, the answer is that he uses the email and nothing else and to be in contact with the family and friends.
Then I give him a breezy Live CD and ask the guy to use it till he himself try to find a remedy for the malady or ultimately ditch Microsoft and ask me to install the new distribution in his computer.

This long course works well for Linux and I of course have to have two visits instead of one.
That of course keeps our friendship lasting and viable.
Who says Microsoft is bad.
It makes "my sphere of activity" to enlarge and expand.
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EasyOS publishes tool for writing disk images

I had few problem with RubecaBlack, PCLinux and OpenMandriva to boot on USB hard Drive (not USB stick).
Thankfully MultiSystem Linux helped me to accomplish (it has a disk writer) the task.
Lately I found Puppy Linux does a better job.
Puppy Linux was my entry into Linux.
I still love it, even though I use Big Brother Debian as my work horse.
It is simply very stable and I have not changed from Debian 9.1.
I have Debian 10 copies on portable USB hard disks (I do not want to miss the Plasma Desktop) which I have collected over 25 years of computing and 20 more in Linux and totally Linux in the last five to seven years. 
By the way, RubecaBlack Linux has several lovely new desktops and its Western Style, I love.
It is a beautiful desktop environment.
It has enlightenment desktop too.

 Go enjoy Linux.
Reproduction
EasyOS publishes tool for writing disk images
Barry Kauler, the developer behind such interesting distributions as EasyOS and Puppy Linux has announced the availability of a helpful tool for writing operating system images to USB thumb drives and SD cards. The new tool is called EasyDD and can work in either command line or graphical desktop modes. 
The utility detects available removable drives and can transfer both regular and compressed images to a USB thumb drive. The utility is designed to be highly portable with minimal dependencies. "There is no problem with using EasyDD in CLI mode, in fact that is the author's preferred mode. However, if you are running some Linux distribution other than a Puppy-derivative, there is also a "portable" version, similar to an AppImage, with everything bundled into a single executable, including 'gtkdialog'. In fact, EasyDD-portable will run in GUI mode on any linux, x86 32-bit or 64-bit, and only needs some basic utilities in the host system, such as 'gzip', 'tar', 'realpath', 'mkdir', 'cd', 'tail' and 'cp' -- and it would be a pretty weird distribution that doesn't have those."
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