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Ask 'Ian' From Debian
Ian Murdock started the Debian Project in 1993 and was its leader until 1996. Now he's president and CEO of Progeny Linux Systems, a company working on a Debian-based system called Linux NOW. (Bruce Perens is chairman of the company's board of directors, so the place is obviously as Debian as a commercial entity can get.) Please post your questions for Ian below. We'll forward 10 of the highest-moderated questions to him by e-mail and run his replies as soon as he gets them back to us.
Where do you stand on the whole "non-free should be removed from the Debian distribution/mirrors since we (Debian) don't want to promote non-free software" flamewar?
Could you please explain how NOW compares to a cluster (not just distributed computing like a Beowolf, but like one of the commercial Unices.) and how does it compare to a System Management program like OpenView. From what I've read, it seems somewhere in the middle.
Deb was Ian's girlfriend at the time, now his wife. I was a TA for the same class as Ian at Purdue when we "discovered" Linux together (look, ma, blatent name dropping!) Ask him what the class was (clue: think Grace Hopper.)
More fun facts about Ian Murdock:
Ian was the Indiana state bagpipe champion or some such.
Ian was an accounting major before switching to CS after finding Linux.
That's about all I can remember, we sort of lost touch after a while. I think I still owe him money.
--J(K) DOS is like Unix in exactly the same way that a pinto is like an aircraft carrier.
He should know the best answers to these issues, as he has to explain them to suits every day.
In lieu of my usual ramen post: What do you think of ramen?
I'm dead serious... Ramen is hacker food... and the Debian distro is arguably the product of hacker minds.
I honestly would like an answer... and hey... its a short question!
the real shiftaling has user number 5134
Karma: -43 and DROPPING!!!
Ian, .deb it could cause a lot of damage, not only to my system(s) but to the general reputation of debian and linux.
<background>
I have migrated to debian because of apt. I don't have time to do all the upgrades, patches, etc manually. After I was shown apt I changed distro's.
<question>
What security measures are in place to protect from an apt attack? If someone puts malicious code into a
-- Andy Wergedal
* "Uncle this droid is malfunctioning" -- Luke Skywalker
Do you believe you will able to ever succesfully produce profit and constant revenue from a sector that captures a very small portion of the market and one that is possibly shrinking due to economic slowdown? Do you believe you actually have a viable future or are you looking to gain promenence (and wealth) from a takeover from a more succesful Linux oriented company?
What distinguishes Linux NOW from a simple NFS/NIS based network? For instance, my employer runs a network of Sun Solaris computers, with users authenticated through NIS and home directories mounted on NFS. I can log in at any desktop, from a cheesy SPARCStation Classic to an Ultra 5, and it will appear the same. What functionality does Linux NOW provide that this does not?
With the glut of "Linux distributions" in the marketplace, why should I pick NOW as my distro? What makes NOW so special that RedHat or SuSe can't do? How is NOW going to survive?
Do you forsee a time when there will be a cease fire between proponents of Debian(and it's children) and the proponents of RedHat(and it's children) as it relates to LSB compliance and interoperability between .debs and .rpms?
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Could you tell us about this "Linux NOW" project you guys are working on now?
:)
Will the filesystem be based on Coda, or are you writing something completely new?
How does the distributed architecture compare with what is currently available?
Will it offer distributed computing, or just centralized administration?
It's great to hear that this will be released back to the community; I'm sure this will be released long before Microsoft makes any real headway on their "Millenium" project.
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pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
I like what Debian is doing and believe it is very important. I also think it is a generally well thought-out system (altho there are annoyances with any distro). But the main problem I see with Debian (and what is keeping me from running it again at home) is that it is and has been behind the current linux technology. By this I mainly mean that it has taken so long for Debian to release a stable 2.2.x based distribution. Why do you think Debian has slipped in this regard and what can be done to fix it? Most servers running Debian now run VA's modified "slink and a half" distro to get the 2.2.x kernel if my impressions are correct (if they aren't, give me new ones).
So, why has Debian been slow to release? I do not believe excessive quality control is a good enough excuse (I consider a delay this long while other distros have reasonable 2.2.x releases to be excessive).
It us understandable to be surly sometimes.
What do you think about the current political problems with KDE in debian, the possible removal of non-free, and any other 'political' issues you care to comment on?
How has debian converged or diverged from what you originally wanted it to be?
If you were Wichert, which direction would you take debian in now?
-- Truth goes out the door when rumor comes innuendo. -- Groucho Marx
Despite promises from Lineo and Blue Cat to be the embedded Linux specialists, Transmeta is using Debian as a base for its Mobile Linux. In addition, Corel uses Debian for its own distro.
Do you see Debian becoming a base upon which other distributions are built instead of "just another Linux distribution[1]." Given the amount of ports Debian has expanded to (x86, 68k, Sparc, Alpha, ARM, i-opener, etc), do you see it becoming the uber-distro for embedded (and unorthodox) systems?
[1]We all know that Debian is more than this, of course.
Back in the day... Debian seemed to have two major goals: it was going to be free and non-corporate like and it was going to include every possible package you could think of. The second goal caused some distribution problems but it was nothing that apt and a "non-free" directory couldn't solve... It may not have been perfect but Debian was a major player, a realistic option to Redhat or Caldera and when it mattered Debian could wave the flag of freedom and say it was down for the cause.
I know I'll sound like a hypocrite to anyone who has read my posts before but now it looks like ideology has gone too far. Pulling KDE out really seems like a ploy to rekindle the GNOME vs. KDE war, leave it in non-free and keep non-free there, let the users know but give them the option. (I'm a GNOMEie in part because of the freedom issue, but I respect what Corel, Troll and the KDE team has done and while it will probably never be "GPL complete" (I just made that up, feel free to use "GPL complete" as you need to...) in terms of freedom it will get very very close, probably near the "Stallman Limit")
I also think the delays that have kept a Debian release from coming out for what, over a year now, are just an extreme form of idealism. There simply isn't any way you can get all the bugs out of that much software, can't be done. Debian, still, has one of the more sophisticated automatic package distribution systems, it has more than a few people who can write code if needed, it seems like it would be more than good enough to add a new apt option, "get-emergency" that you could put in a cron job and it would download emergency stability fixes or something. I really think the boat is being missed, part of the idea is to release early, release often, and do you best to put out bug-free releases but be better at fixing the bugs when they surface. That's how the kernel runs and t work's pretty well. Of course, if they really want to take the stability thing far then why not cut out the non-free and 98% of the other packages and ship only a kernel once a perfectly stable one is written?
I also think that using BSD and Hurd kernels is a noble goal and I'm glad Debian is trying to do it but is it too much to be the ideology king and then to build this kernel independence while putting out only rock solid and beyond releases? Staying up-to-date while doing all of that has to be impossible. OpenBSD kind of get's away with being woefully behind the times because there is the value add of being secure or the illusion of it, OpenBSD's mission statement also has a much smaller focus, it's security at all costs, not freedom, lot's of packages, rock solid, and kernel independence.
This is my signature. There are many signatures like it but this one is mine..
Debian has often been accused of having a very slow development cycle. The "stable" distribution is still using two to three year old technology, while frozen is getting more and more out of date each day. Meanwhile, companies like Mandrake are releasing much more bleeding edge distributions. These distributions have more bugs in them, but are also ahead of the game in terms of performance enhancements, newer software, and fixes for older bugs that still plague the older software in Debian. How do you respond to companies like this, and what do you see as Debian's place among these companies?
If you could take 2 features from two other operating systems and add them to *nix what would they be?
What's your second-favourite Linux distribution?
Do you have any regrets about stepping down from your position with Debian? (IE: directions the project has gone that you disagree with and might have been able to prevent)
What do you think is the best way to put out the distro flame wars and welcome more people into the world of Linux?
There are four boxes used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order.
Last week we selected [famous name] as an authority in [field] to answer some of your best and brightest questions. We've included [his/her] responses below:
[the I-think-you-are-cool-and-would-like-to-be-like-you question]
1. How did you choose [field] and how can I get more involved in [field].
[famous name] Well, I really started by [...at this point, [famous name] begins to launch into a short autobiography. The reply to this first question will take up about as much space as the other 9 combined.]
[the multi-part question]
2. I think you are really cool. What are you feelings on [topic]?
and how it relates to groundhogs
[famous name] Phew! That sure is a lot to answer. Well I guess you could sum it up neatly by saying that, yes, I do like it all.
[the I-also-like-[other-topic]-do-you-think-it's-relate d-to-your-[field] question]
3. I really like your work and am also interested in the whole Napster-Metallica-MP3 debate. How do you think it relates to your scientific [field]?
[famous name] Well, I, well, uh... [at this point, [famous name] is thinking, "Where in the world did that question come from? Oh well, I'll try to be polite and answer it] I really think that, uh, music should be, uh, heard--yeah, heard!--and I think that, uh, well, Napster provides a service of hearing.
[the really-in-depth question]
4. Dear [famous name],
I have tracked your research into biogenetical ESP CIO medicare research with great interested and wondered if you could clarify a minor point for me: in your estimation, are the EIO levels in a controlled AF/BF reaction substantially higher than the CF/DF state because of genetic-electro-magnetic lunar levels or is it mostly from O2 radiation WRT our helial position?
[famous name] [Recognizes a quality question from a member of [field] and tries to formulate a scientific answer] Well, I believe my research has conclusively show that CD/DF states can be generated from the O2 +7/~3KE100 states of the T1000 with ISA/PCI/FBI catalysts [...launches into such arcane detail that no one outside of his research area has any clue what he's talking about.]
[the Score:5, Funny question]
5. What do you think of Natalie Portman eating hot grits in a Boewulf cluster?
[famous name] Uh, well, I'm not really sure what you mean. Wasn't Natilie Portman that actress in Star Wars or something? [[famous name] is now wondering what he's got himself into, and who exactly are these Slashdot people...]
[the your-work-sucks-I-scoff-at-you question]
6. Hey [famous name's first name], I seen you on CNBC and I gotta tell ya, I don't think it's gonna work. I mean, whose to say that you even gradated from MIT in the 1st place? Are we supose to believe that stuff? If ur so smart, how come you haven't figured it out yet?????!!!!!
[famous name] Well I believe we can make this work. I realize we've spent $80 million in research already, but if you look at the data I think you'll see that our work has some definite promise here. The possibilities for science are almost endless!- life question]
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[more questions. [famous name]'s answers are getting shorter and more heated with each question. In one question, he calls the questioneer a bad name. In another question, he limits his answer to a simple "no."]
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[the I'd-like-to-know-about-this-area-of-your-personal
9. I noticed in the picture of you in the NYTimes that there's a bottle of Pert Plus behind you in that picture. Do you usually use Pert Plus for the dual-action, shampoo + conditioner in one? Or is it more because you like the curve and bounce of your hair after using it?
[famous name] That wasn't my bottle of Pert Plus in the picture.
[the I-can-generalize-your-entire-life's-work-in-a-sing le-statement question]
10. I see you and other researches working on things like this and I wonder if this isn't all part of something bigger, like the Grand Unified Theory. Do you think your work is just a small piece of a larger puzzle?
[famous name] [Realizes he now has to defend his work and is torn between trying to write a compelling argument for doing what he does or just trashing the 10th question altogether. Decides to write something, but keep it as short as possible.] Our work is extremely important. Without our research, that $80 million might have gone to another, less-deserving [field] of science. We can continue to produce more quality data the more funding we have.
[famous name] realizes that the questions were mostly a flop but partially good and tries to wrap everything up politely: "I realize that a lot of you are very interested in what we do and I think you for your interest. You can learn more about our projects [web site] and I encourage you to visit. Thank you all again for this wonderful opportunity to answer your questions."
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