[_joel]

Why, are the Rocky Mountains about to collapse?

Also this is a sentimental name, chosen well imho.

> "Thinking back to early CentOS days... My cofounder was Rocky McGaugh. He is no longer with us, so as a H/T to him, who never got to see the success that CentOS came to be, I introduce to you...Rocky Linux"

[tweetle_beetle]

> uncertain and difficult and not likely to last long

> difficult or uncertain

> unable to balance very well

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/rocky

The parent to your comment is correct, as are you about the specific reference in this case.

The etymology of the Rocky Mountains is unrelated to either:

> The Rocky Mountains were so called by 1802, translating French Montagnes Rocheuses, first applied to the Canadian Rockies. "The name is not directly self-descriptive but is an approximate translation of the name of the former Native American people here known as the Assiniboin .... The mountains are in fact not noticeably rocky"

https://www.etymonline.com/word/rocky

[visualphoenix]

Interesting... I didn’t know about Rocky McGaugh, but I’ve definitely benefited from CentOS.

In attempting to research who Rocky was, I stumbled onto this post with a dead link[0]. Anyone know the story behind Rocky and TeamHPC?

[0] https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/general-10/news-155...

[HunterWare]

No, it's because rocky shores were very hazardous to shipping, and a ship "on the rocks" was either close to, or in, immediate peril.

The homage seems lovely, but doesn't (unfortunately) change the fact that to the vast majority of english speakers "rocky" means unstable/dangerous... In fact, one of the most common expressions referring to an unstable/bad relationship is "their relationship is on the rocks" or "they are on the rocks".

[_joel]

Well I'm British and whilst I understand the etymology of the phrase I really don't associate Rocky Linux with being an unstable distro, but each to their own.

[alxlaz]

I think it's safe to say that, between the primary sense of "rocky" being "made of rock" and elementary common sense, nobody does ;-).

People aren't going to think Rocky Linux is unstable for the same reasons why they don't think Apple computers rot if you leave them in the sun. Also, if a product called Red Hat Enterprise Linux was successful despite the name, I'm guessing it can't be that much of an obstacle for Rocky, either.

[cardiffspaceman]

You can't stop people from interpreting names as they will.

My reading of the name "Rocky Linux" is similar to my reading of the name "Rocky Balboa". It could be just a name, like "Foo" or it could signify toughness, as "Rocky" does as a nickname in many cases. In two non-fiction cases of boxers, "Rocky" is a diminutive of "Rock" or "The Rock".