From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from atuin.qyliss.net (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by atuin.qyliss.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2DFCA8840; Mon, 22 Jun 2026 09:56:27 +0000 (UTC) Received: by atuin.qyliss.net (Postfix, from userid 993) id 24D8A883A; Mon, 22 Jun 2026 09:56:26 +0000 (UTC) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 4.0.1 (2024-03-26) on atuin.qyliss.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.4 required=3.0 tests=DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID, DKIM_VALID_AU,DMARC_MISSING,FROM_SUSPICIOUS_NTLD,SPF_HELO_NONE, T_PDS_OTHER_BAD_TLD autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=4.0.1 Received: from mail-108-mta175.mxroute.com (mail-108-mta175.mxroute.com [136.175.108.175]) by atuin.qyliss.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 83CC18839 for ; Mon, 22 Jun 2026 09:56:24 +0000 (UTC) Received: from filter006.mxroute.com ([136.175.111.3] filter006.mxroute.com) (Authenticated sender: mN4UYu2MZsgR) by mail-108-mta175.mxroute.com (ZoneMTA) with ESMTPSA id 19eeec275f000067f7.001 for (version=TLSv1.3 cipher=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384); Mon, 22 Jun 2026 09:56:22 +0000 X-Zone-Loop: f45323f4ea1aa64b684bc5b0ff3289705c2f1d5ca2b5 X-Originating-IP: [136.175.111.3] DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gagarin.work; s=x; h=Content-Transfer-Encoding:MIME-Version:References: In-Reply-To:Message-ID:Date:Subject:Cc:To:From:Sender:Reply-To:Content-Type: Content-ID:Content-Description:Resent-Date:Resent-From:Resent-Sender: Resent-To:Resent-Cc:Resent-Message-ID:List-Id:List-Help:List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe:List-Post:List-Owner:List-Archive; bh=d5pByCCTqw030kzQ593N6H7eOfL1+A9ulBBXHN7S5fE=; b=VLGmWOJhx33IGJJDH+Q7I+t+No drzDsRnhTomjwtH5O6eL/ji1kjtjM9Ol3G/TzuWgaXsU3a4Mfy7faFzSdYIn1/YGp5Tumy9qk8ff7 4uOsEle/WzQLsPj6ytoaLH+pcPhSPlU1c+akNdKVaH3DRT3xBBFH7QBRvpim0Z0ezAIQUJrzLH1VU DShuhITWNXAOe1y7tAdahT/xLLHQwFR7LLUlqLIpFEpKegTpyvG+gRHM34QXcCayedUn7ibS4QMp1 QIdZAH3bLnOMKodxPK/3i/ZjfRzYUyXtuYS9DuMM273NVt3Gvu//N/lOZpzVWelLlNZTl1pMV7lot Labf/hrQ==; From: Valentin Gagarin To: devel@spectrum-os.org Subject: [PATCH v2 1/2] Documentation: reword the distinctive feature of shared state Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2026 11:55:55 +0200 Message-ID: <20260622095556.170159-1-valentin@gagarin.work> In-Reply-To: <20260617132414.103828-1-valentin@gagarin.work> References: <20260617132414.103828-1-valentin@gagarin.work> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Authenticated-Id: valentin@gagarin.work Message-ID-Hash: AZYKVWVE7VVQEH62ZRC6J2JXZVC4XRXL X-Message-ID-Hash: AZYKVWVE7VVQEH62ZRC6J2JXZVC4XRXL X-MailFrom: valentin@gagarin.work X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; loop; banned-address; header-match-devel.spectrum-os.org-0; header-match-devel.spectrum-os.org-1; header-match-devel.spectrum-os.org-2; header-match-devel.spectrum-os.org-3; header-match-devel.spectrum-os.org-4; emergency; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: Valentin Gagarin X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.10 Precedence: list List-Id: Patches and low-level development discussion Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: This changes front-page wording in load-bearing ways, for reasons that may be non-obvious. The overarching idea is to reduce the textual surface area, for instance by replacing arbitrary examples with subsuming terms, while staying very specific with what is to be conveyed and where possible making it more relatable to the intended audience. - Split into shorter sentences Each one is focused on describing a separate idea. The second idea is more complex and warrants more words, so having a dedicated sentence avoids losing the reader. - s/User data and application state/Persistent data/ The focus of the sentence is the central management. By being a bit more general while technically still very specific (all persistent data is the same from the perspective of the system) we save the attention for the important part. - s/remaining isolated/applications remain isolated/ The data being isolated never made sense; it's the applications' access to it that is isolated. The phrasing chosen is more compact but still correct, and leaves room for expanding on the isolation in a separate paragraph. - s/several dozen/many/ The particular number doesn't matter, and may be arbitrarily wrong in practice. The point is that there's fragmentation. The snark about any large number is unnecessary if we put the real problem in the foreground. - s/mixed up in// It could be that entanglement is an issue, but fragmentation seems to be the bigger issue. In any case, the original sentence was awkward grammatically, because it tried putting together how a system is handled with what the system is like. - s/managed as a whole/still treated as a whole/ We're already saying "managed" in the first sentence. Managing the system is very different from managing state. We need to be careful with using words without prior definitions, so the best we can do here is avoid inadvertent conflation. There is enough potential for confusion as it is. "still" acknowledges the traditional single-system experience that Spectrum preserves by design. - s/backed up and// The difficulty of backing up is a specific instance of the fragmentation problem. But this is likely only evident to Qubes users. We can expect most readers to know about it theoretically at best. While it's not wrong to have this sort of anchor, keeping it risks diluting the main message. - "each becoming a system of its own" This captures the Qubes failure mode Spectrum avoids, where per-VM state accumulation forces operators into what amounts to orchestrating a cluster on one's desktop. In the original, the contrast to Qubes would not be as strong for people only familiar with it superficially. Being more explicit about the nature of the problem helps establishing the narrative frame and original motivation of Spectrum early on, part of which is overcoming Qubes limitations. Signed-off-by: Valentin Gagarin --- Documentation/index.html | 8 ++++---- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/index.html b/Documentation/index.html index a717d2c..6d4f07b 100644 --- a/Documentation/index.html +++ b/Documentation/index.html @@ -22,10 +22,10 @@ lower barrier to entry and to be easier to use and maintain than other such systems.

-User data and application state will be managed centrally, while -remaining isolated, meaning that the system can be backed up and -managed as a whole, rather than mixed up in several dozen virtual -machines. +Persistent data will be managed centrally, while +applications remain isolated. This means that the system can still be +thought of as a whole, rather than many virtual +machines each becoming a system of its own.

Design philosophy

-- 2.54.0