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Custom Debian Distributions
Andreas Tille writes "When the first Custom Debian Distribution - Debian Junior - started in the beginning of 2000 we did not expect that this would perhaps lead to a new way Debian could support its end users in general. The next step forward was done in DebConf3 in Oslo when several developers who care about Custom Debian Distributions met in person and decided to work together more closely. Finally at OSWC conference in Malaga took place a workshop aiming at exactly this issue. The result of the conference was to write a paper about Custom Debian Distributions to explain to the public what we had done and what we want to do. This is an implicit call for participation for all those people inside and outside Debian who work on the same goal: Enhance the role of Debian as the missing link between upstream software developers and end users."
No, Debian Jr. is designed to be a Linux distribution for children.
Amen!
I've been trying to get Debian on a box for the last couple of days and have been having a heck of a time. Gee, I want to use XFS - so, I snag an XFS enabled installer. Oops, I also want to use LVM. Hmm, there are installers for that too, but none that support both. Well, I did find one but it doesn't support USB devices (like my keyboard). C'mon guys, use anaconda or yast or something. It's all open source.
James
They do have some Custom Knoppix's like http://overclockix.octeams.com/ And Gnoppix... and there are some guides how to customize it yourself...I love knoppix it's a Universal tool and a good for rescuing system (Especially windows) I Dont's go anyware with out a CD.
Try this
2) Recent updates. Something from the 21st century would be nice. Debian's "stable" is positively ancient.
brainstorm:~# cat /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
deb ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/java/debian unstable main non-free
brainstorm:~# dpkg -l kdebase
ii kdebase 3.2.1-1 KDE Base ..
brainstorm:~#
Pretty recent, huh?
3) If Debian wants more participants, then take a page from Linus -- lose the attitude. I want Linux, not a freakin' religion. We're peers, not apostles.
Them just use it, man! U don't have to be an apostole to put the CD in the drive, intsall, boot and use it! It is a pretty damn good distro AND it worries about political/social questions, but if u don't care about that, fine, it stills a damn good distro!
- no sig.
Have a look at Morphix. It is exaclty Knoppix which breaks out the ISO images into categories (gamer, full GUI, light GUI, etc) and supports GNOME. I'm not sure if it supports a per-package granularity though.
Try this link debian-lex
Linux is what it is (Free), and will *remain* what it is, because of the "religion". Having religion doesn't mean you have to attack other people, but it does mean preserving yourself in your own beliefs, or finding ways to adapt them. GNU does not feel any need to adapt, and the results have been quite good: Linux, the GNU tools, Gaim, OO.o, GNOME, GIMP, Samba, Apache (which has a compatible license last I knew)...
I get a little bit tired of people criticizing this point. Without the religious fervor, without defending the GPL, none of these things would be able to maintain an Open-and-useful state. I would hope that most of the Americans among us would defend to the death the rights contained in the US, even if it were not popular to do so. I bet people thought our fore-persons were being anal then, too.
You wouldn't tell your local preacher to shut-up for being a {bible,torah,koran,*}-thumper, would you?
Emacs: for people who just never know when to
I get a little bit tired of people criticizing this point. Without the religious fervor, without defending the GPL, none of these things would be able to maintain an Open-and-useful state.
Then why are the BSDs in an open and useful state? You have the typical myopia associated with religion, or since people like to point out no god is invovled here, cult.
You wouldn't tell your local preacher to shut-up for being a {bible,torah,koran,*}-thumper, would you?
If they stay in their church on preach only to the brainwashed, no. But if they go door to door and send messages to governments trying to convice them to officially follow the religion, then hell yeah I'll tell them to shut up!
What they do need: 1) ftp-able ISOs. No jigdo crap.
You mean like this one, or would you prefer a different mirror.
2) Recent updates. Something from the 21st century would be nice.
Well, could be wrong, but looks like gnome 2.6.0 packages began appearing on 3/27 for x86, and yesterday for power pc. How much more recent do you want? (does any other distro have gnome 2.6 yet?)
Debian's "stable" is positively ancient.
True, and I'm not happy about it either. But as I understand it consensus last summer was to wait on the new installer. Holdup seems to be getting folks to test it on all the different platforms Debian supports. Meanwhile Debian's "testing" is more stable than most folks releases; hell, so's their "unstable" for that matter.
Last I read Debian hopes to release "Sarge" this summer. You can help that happen by testing the installer.
The worst part of using debian is putting up with what is known as "the debian switcharoo".
You say "hmmm, this software is pretty old my production server needs a newer version with feature x". They say "Oh no problem run unstable it has the newer version". You say "Hmm, this isn;t that stable, perl broke last week and I'm still waiting for that security update from 2 weeks ago". They say "Well duh thats what you get for using unstable if you want a production server use stable you idiot!". Then you say "hmmm, this software is pretty old my production server needs a newer version with feature x". The they say ".....
Infinite loop avoiding serious flaw of the distro.
Oh and someone might tell you to run testing. That's even more rich since it doesn't even have a security updates so you just have to wait the 2 weeks to months it may take for a fixed version to trickle on down.
I lived with the madding "debian switcharoo" for a few years until I finally got out of that abusive relationship and made a DISTRO SWITCHAROO. Now I use another distro that I find fantastic. Don't stay in the abusive debian relationship find a distro that doesn't use excuse and word games to cover up it's horrible problems. Also you know not all distro communities are filled with condecending assholes who like to belittle the users. Some distros actually appreciate their users instead of taking them for granted.
To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three persons, two of them absent.
DDs don't have to compile for all archs. Debian has autobuilders. All that the DD has to do is make sure that the package is compilable on all archs (which usually just means uploading the source package to the archive and waiting for the bug reports to roll in). Unfortunately, some of the autobuilders are slow and overloaded.
To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three persons, two of them absent.
I've found nothing so far on Debian which helps me get the config files right.
I take it you know about dpkg-reconfigure?
If you could point to source repositories, daring end users could download the source packages when they hit a new version, bump up the number, see if it works untweaked, fix it if not, and send the info back to the maintainer.
.deb out of it.
A Debian source package normally contains the "pure" upstream source of the software, a bunch of Debian-specific patches, and a few control files to set consistent compile-time options, which are used by the dpkg-buildpackage tool.
Often if you need a shinier version than even Unstable has to offer, you can download the source package, strip out the old upstream source, chuck in the new, and create a working
Debian makes a big mistake (IMO) by not letting power users handle part of the workload of package update.
Have you tried updating a package and sending it back to a maintainer? I'm sure that most of them would be very happy for you to do so. Hell, if it's a bit of software you care about enough, try to get yourself registered as a co-maintainer for the package...
Well, not _exactly_ Knoppix, but we try to keep everything in sync with Knoppix, that's for sure...
:-)
We've gotten to the point where apt-get installing works from the livecd, and where debian packages on a directory on the livecd are installed at boot time, but we're a long way from per-package granularity. I'm not even sure we should go that far, as things get pretty messy with libraries et al. Being able to autobuild and autoinstall knoppix-like livecds is much more fun
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Still, why does this not happen more often, then?
Because it's always easier to bitch about things than to try and fix them. Frequently, people will do both, but you only see the bitching.
figure out how to use dpkg-buildpackage.
It might be worth reading the APT HOWTO, specifically the section on Working with source packages.
Furthermore, the Beyond Packaging section of the Debian Developer's Reference contains useful info on contacting package maintainers and reporting bugs.
There is a link to CVSd d/doc/common/?cvsroot=cdd
http://cvs.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/c
Patches sended to my address would be great, simple
corrections via mail also welcome.
Andreas.