Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Interview with Adam Di Carlo (Debian Boot)

Posted by michael on from the soon-to-be-accomplishable-by-normal-humans dept.

robstah writes: "The installer is the heart of any Operating System, Debian is no different. The mature but ageing boot-floppies installer will rear its head for the last time in woody. In this interview with Adam Di Carlo, one of the lead developers of this system we investigate the past, present and future of the Debian installation system ready for the upcoming release of woody: The next generation of Debian."

1 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Policies essential, installer incidental by Euphonious+Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The installer is incidental. Debian users run it once, and never again.

    What makes the difference in a distro is the set of policies and procedures that make the distro something recognizable. If those are comprehensive, enforced, and automated enough, it becomes possible to trust the distro from release to release.

    The infrastructure of the Debian distro has flowered as the "apt-get" tool and its related GUI applications (gnome-apt, aptitude, deity). Apt-get makes a Debian system far easier to maintain, and keep up to date and secure, than any other. Debian policies and package tools make it possible to use safely. Apt-get without all the infrastructure beneath would be too dangerous to trust.

    For more detail on the topic, see the Advogato posting.