Not just for servers and infrastructure, but does it bother anyone else that for example, the Linux desktop has robust APIs for managing powerful service daemons like systemd, but relatively few applications that use them and provide useful UIs/control panels/dashboards? Somehow for many of the tools we DO have, the Linux desktop is stuck in the age of using popen and regex against command output even though we really ought to be able to do better. It's an odd blindspot in a lot of open source work, maybe it is deceptively difficult!
That's mostly nothing to do with this project though, but the two problems are intertwined in my head as problems where a little bit of engineering could really go a long way.
Choice is better than "one true way".
That said, I don't take the UNIX philosophy to be gospel, and frankly, very little of the Linux kernel or desktop really seems to. That seems to be closer to what the *BSD derivatives would steer towards. I just want a functional operating system, and the specific ideology or design of packages isn't too big of a concern so as long as the end result seems solid.
Completely Agree
>> [...] the specific ideology or design of packages isn't too big of a concern so as long as the end result seems solid.
The framework of thinking, while I agree is not gospel, is helpful in guiding design thinking towards a shared goal.
You don't want everyone wasting too much time handrolling slightly-differing monstrosities instead of a cohesive design if it's not a business or engineering differentiator.