Re: Infrastructure for meta-distribution projects
On Thu, 5 Jun 2003, Enrico Zini wrote:
> [I'm preserving the list of CCs, altough I'm fearing it's getting quite
> long]
At
http://bugs.debian.org/160229
you could see a solution for this mess but it was rejected for reasons
I do not understand. Perhaps somebody more convincing than me could reopen
this bug.
> Metapackages could then be used to bring in selections of packages (like
> med-imaging or med-bio do), and maybe the need for metapackages could go
> away in some future when package managers will start making use of
> package tags.
While I regard tags as a very porwerful and helpful tool I see no reason
to replace a working solution (meta packages) which did not show up
any drawback and would have further advantages (configuration changes,
additional stuff).
> If we like it, we could start thinking practical: could it be
> implemented right now or should we find another way to make subdistros
> until tools are updated to support it?
As I said I see no reason to find a meta packages replacement, but we
could fairly think about how to profit from the tags for the subproject
tasks.
> As I see it, this is going to become the standard way of distributing
> Debian: start with a specialized distro, then hook into the main archive
> for further packages. The specialized distribution could then be
> shipped in a knoppix-like fashion, run from CD and installed on disk
> with a few clicks.
Please make sure that you understand the *internal* projects right:
They reside *inside* Debian and just help users focus on their special
problems. This does not mean that it is not allowed to build a
specialized distro from it (hey, it's free ;-) ). But this is a third
party task and not our primary intention.
> If we can make it easy to build and maintain a subdistro, communities
> for many possible usage goals could form and maintain all needed
> specializations. We could then have a plethora of specialized debians
> one could pick from and just use, and all of them subdistros will
> be just the minimum possible customization from the commonly maintained
> Debian universe. Minimum duplication of efforts, maximum user
> satisfaction.
This minimum duplication of efforts is the reason why my strongest concern
is to keep all things *inside* Debian.
> Can you see the power of this approach?
Yes.
> I'll really want to discuss about this at the Debconf in Oslo: be
> prepared when you meet me :)
I announced a talk about Debian Internal Projects which will be an
updated version of
http://people.debian.org/~tille/debian-med/talks/200303_chem_int/index_en.html
Any hints or enhancements are greatly welcome.
> > which contains all Debian-Med stuff. For this purpose I try to implement
> > a new system which makes it brain dead easy to build Knoppix CDs from
> > the Debian-Mirror. The problem is that this system is currently plain
> > fiction ...
>
> Why don't we setup a working group on this during the debcamp?
Would be really great. Unfortunately I have to admit that my family does
not allow me to shorten our Norway holiday trip more than for the time
of the conference. ;-) So I will be in the South of Norway from 14. July
but I will reach Oslo (and DebCamp) not before 17. July afternoon.
I would like to discuss this topics than if someone likes.
Kind regards
Andreas.
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