As the Garuda user base has expanded greatly recently, the team feels we need to explore changes that will ensure the future viability of the distro. Some of you may be aware that we are currently running almost exclusively on resources provided by Fosshost - an incredibly fantastic service which has aided us greatly in providing Garuda to our users.
As our user base has expanded greatly of late, we are currently investigating setting up our own servers for multiple reasons:
Provide more pre-compiled applications in the Chaotic-AUR and be able to keep all of these updated on a frequent basis. The Chaotic-AUR is currently short on processing power to build all applications we have in store. We would also like to be able ensure we have the capability of keeping everything up to date in case some of the nodes (as currently online) are down.
Provide more mirrors for better download speeds.
Provide more Garuda Cloud accounts: Currently ~1000 people signed up for Garuda Cloud, the current max capacity will be reached soon so signups will have to be closed. To be able to provide this service to more people, we will have to expand our capacities.
Provide backup capabilities in case of a disruption in Fosshost services.
Our ultimate goal is to be community funded while preserving a fully transparent overview of how donation money is used. We are currently looking into using OpenCollective as platform for this purpose. We hope the changes we are planning will ensure the viability of the Garuda project well into the future
To be able to formulate a workable plan for the future we would like to solicit opinions to obtain feedback from our community. We would like to ask our Garuda users to participate in the poll below to gauge how much support there is for donation based community funding of service upgrades:
Would you be willing to support Garuda?
Yes, in form of one-time payment
Yes, regularly
No
0voters
Also let us know what you think about these plans please!
This is the first time that I actually feel like I should contribute because of all the innovation and energy you guys bring. Of course, I hope it can work out so that you can cover your costs and not turn into a merchandising web-site like some other distros seem to have.
I hope you stick around for some time to come... for my benefit
Exactly - enlightened self interest says I will support any Garuda Team decisions, which ensure long-term stability and survival. That may be a one-off, but I am happier with a Patreon-esque model, where costs can be offset reliably, so as to cause minimum fuss and admin for the devs and team.
Whatever your decision, I will haunt you as long as Garuda exists with it’s present ethos, mindset and brilliance (which I do not see changing for obvious reasons)
It will certainly not be the case that you have to click through the merch for pages to get to the download.
If so, the merch note must be attached so discreetly that it does not seem intrusive and no one feels compelled to respond.
Not at all, its going to be on a voluntary basis for users to keep up with the growing user count. As stated on the our website Garuda is free and will forever stay free, nothing changed.
A passing thought here - can the 'build load' be distributed somehow? My main box only is in use about 12 hours a day, and could do a decent job of helping out with builds if that were practical.
A number of possible scenarios come to mind:
Access to (say) a docker container for a dev to run (hand off) what builds are wanted.
Assignment of certain builds to my attention. Build to follow, and syncing results.
I run a chaotic-aur repo now - I could add in a 'Garuda' instance if it differs?
I think this is probably the direction to go (donation model) - but it has its own hazards with 'feast or famine' volatility. Someone will have to 'model' the plan - and keep an eye on the viability of the commitments - especially the service 'nut'. I wouldn't want to see the setup sink from over-expansion!
The other gotcha is the extra time required of the team for tracking and planning - are there enough of you for this? Hope so...
I would think it through before making changes to any part of Garuda A distro is very volatile no matter how good the idea seems on a wim
You guys do a fantastic job its not a spin as it brings things to the table not just themes and wallpaper.
Hear! Hear! When @tbg invited me to take a look at Garuda, the amount of work done on the backend was impressive enough to switch from straight-Arch, something not done on my desktop machine in 8-9 years.
Anyone relieving me of this much work deserves medals as well as donations…as long as @tbg is featured at the dunk tank.
The only problem is where the dunk tank is. most tbg is on the west coast of canada most of the orher team members are in europe/aisa so it might be difficult.
What are the expenses of the cloud services compared to everything else, speaking broadly? Maybe it's just because I don't use the cloud storage, but while I see some benefit in having a small amount of privacy-respecting cloud storage as a public good (and would generally like a lot of things on the internet to simply be free public services paid for by tax dollars) I don't know if having limited donations put towards that versus Chaotic-AUR, mirrors, backups, or compensation for those putting in the work is the best use.
If it's inexpensive to provide then sure, getting people off Google Drive is good, but personally I'm more concerned with Garuda itself being accessible and the Chaotic-AUR compiling more packages.
