> The damage done by distributions shipping development toolsets is never-ending.
You say that, but we've already come out the other end of the period where linux was still on the upward swing of popularity and if a development toolchain wasn't as easily available a lot of software may never have taken off as quick.
The ability to easily install a development toolset to compile (even if safely hidden behind a script to download and compile something like Ruby, Python, Perl, or a module for one of them) is a major boon, even if just used to create packages for the distribution's package system for local distribution (e.g. creating an RPM from spec).
Given the choice between an easily installable default that might get old or no first party option provided, having a default available is vastly better. Blame companies for poor options they choose, not the people and organizations that do their best to provide even a single option.
You say that, but we've already come out the other end of the period where linux was still on the upward swing of popularity and if a development toolchain wasn't as easily available a lot of software may never have taken off as quick.
The ability to easily install a development toolset to compile (even if safely hidden behind a script to download and compile something like Ruby, Python, Perl, or a module for one of them) is a major boon, even if just used to create packages for the distribution's package system for local distribution (e.g. creating an RPM from spec).
Given the choice between an easily installable default that might get old or no first party option provided, having a default available is vastly better. Blame companies for poor options they choose, not the people and organizations that do their best to provide even a single option.