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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."
Debian has grown as far as users, software and continues to grow with the Linux community. Its abilities to be able to drop in a vanilla Linux kernel and go while being able to be quite flexable as far as setup goes for the user makes it one of the best distributions out there. Apt and dpkg are some of the finest software management tools I've seen in the unix community next to BSD's ports system.
Debian will continue to grow, as will the debian community hopefully for the better of the GNU/Linux world.
- get a real usenet group, not just a gated email list
- create a friendly user community that doesn't slam people for asking questions "improperly"
On the first point, debian-users is a huge, high traffic list that. Being able to pop into usenet is preferable for someone with only an occasional question. The gated list has failed.
On the second point, people can & do to get turned away from a product by rude encounters.
Yah, some people claim that is fine that they don't want "your kind of user", but the quote above belies the fact that the Debian project people want end users.
All of the excuses for slamming people are washed away by the simple fact that reading and posting on the internet is 100% voluntary.
If someone thinks a question is unworthy they should not waste their time by finishing reading it and they certainly shouldn't spend their time answering the question.
Doing and complaining,/i> about either given the voluntary nature of the internet makes them look like a mean loser.
It also drives the end users the Debian project people say they want away.
Steve Both of these points are about providing accessible help and support.
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.
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.
From the developer's perspective, by making a Custom Debian Distribution, my project, Debian Jr., can afford to focus strictly on making Debian better for children, and not have to worry about providing a whole new infrastructure that is necessary for a Debian derivative.
From the user's perspective, they are going right to the source for support and bug reporting, rather than filtering everything through a third party. They don't need to worry about whether package foo from Debian main will work with their Debian derivative or not. And if package foo *does* break, someone is actually on the hook for fixing it, whereas with a derivative you're likely to encounter this:
User: Package 'foo' is broken when I use it with Debian derivative 'bar'. Help!
Derivative developer: Sorry, that's your problem. We don't maintain 'foo'.
Debian developer: Sorry, that's your problem, I don't run 'bar', so I can't debug it.
--
synrg at debian dot org