RE: Is it _really_ dead?

[Brent Fulgham <brent.fulgham@xpsystems.com>]

> > So what exactly *is* present in Debian that would be at all 
> > helpful?
> 
> In Debian as in GNU/Linux?  Probably not much.  It's not worth
> the bother.
> 
> But there are people associated with Debian, and if these people
> want to help out with openpackages, then all the better.
>

Oh -- I've been misunderstanding the point.  We're not talking about
Debian the software archive, we're talking about Debian the social
project.  Yes, I'm certain there are people involved in Debian who
have some interest in this area, or else we wouldn't have this
mailing list.  :-)
 
[ ... snip ... ]
 
> The direction BSD is heading in is fine.  Nobody wants Debian to
> come and change the direction; but Debian folks are more than welcome
> to help continue the direction that the development is headed in now;
> and I think that we'd all be quite happy with the results.
> 

So is your idea that there would be a Debian BSD distribution that
would simply be an "Open, Community" effort to produce a BSD
distribution?  If so, what's wrong with the existing FreeBSD or
NetBSD (or OpenBSD) efforts?  Are they too cathedral-ish?  (I'm
asking because I don't know much about BSD development "culture").

I guess the unspoken issue that's caused confusion for me in this
thread is that Debian is as much about philosophy as it is about
software, or operating systems.  One sticking point is likely to
be licensing issues.  The GNU/Hurd and GNU/Linux are based (obviously)
on a Stallmanesque GPL-centric ideal, where we know what we produce
cannot be extended and resold under a restrictive license.  This
is one area that we differ from BSD, in that BSD allows the licensing
of the software to be changed.  I worry that a Debian/BSD might
not meet with much enthusiasm as a Debian Project.

However a BSD kernel with the GNU user-space would probably be
more palatable.

And of course, more and more BSD tools are finding their way into
Debian.  Woody already contains several OpenBSD varients (their FTP
software, secure shell, etc.)  So don't loose hope yet ;-)

Thanks,

-Brent