Re: Debian/BSD survey....
On Thu, May 31, 2001 at 10:02:57AM -0700, Michael Goetze wrote:
> Hi... I just read the archives for this list... sure hasn't been much happening. I'd like to
> conduct a quick and dirty survey to see whether it's worthwhile to get involved with this... I'd
> like to ask everyone subscribed to this list to take a minute or two to answer...
>
> Just so you know, my idea of a Debian/BSD system is a DEBIAN system with a BSD kernel... that's
> why Debian comes first.... (Whereby Debian's Not Linux, and GNU's Not Unix...)
>
> (1) Which BSD would you prefer to use as a base? (Free, Net, Open)
I could care less. I'll probably start w/ openbsd, just because it's
what I have on a development box which can be trashed/reinstalled easily,
but freebsd will be next. I don't use netbsd, but the tools involved will
be as portable as possible, so using netbsd should be trivial.
>
> (2) What do you think is the best way to start?
Start with an already installed *BSD, install an apt-alike, and grab
debian packages. Obviously, to start out, everything will be compiled
against bsd libc, until glibc (or a smaller libc; i _really_ dislike
glibc) is downloaded. Anyways, the most reasonable way that I see to
start this effort is to rewrite apt to be more ports-like. Currently.
apt-get --compile source <foo> will make a fine (and usually smaller than
the same found on debian mirrors) debian package; it has two downfalls,
however. The first is that source debs come pre-configured; this
is an annoyance under linux when, say, you want to strip a dependancy
out of a package. Under BSD, this just doesn't work; it means you'll
require a different source package for BSD packages. Yuck. The second
problem is that when you go to (dist-)upgrade, apt will happily overwrite
your compiled package w/ the "official" package (even if they're the
exact same version).
So basically, my course of action is to rewrite apt w/ the above
capabilities (and in C, instead of C++. I'm not going to get into
a language war. I use both frequently, C is what I prefer). After
apt is able to do that, I will use it to convert mandrake, suse, and
redhat boxes to debian, as well as upgrading my existing debian boxes
to debian packages compiled myself (probably skipping over the large
compiles; mozilla, X, and so on). From there, get it working and usable
on my openbsd box. At that point, I'm done. I _need_ a uniform
packaging system across free OS's, and dpkg beats rpm (by far) and
various ports systems. The rest of you are free to to have massive
flamewars about kernels, libcs, and how to package it all together
for an out-of-the-box debian/bsd system.
Feel free to criticize my plan, but don't expect me to care about anything
that's not constructive. My goal isn't a debian/bsd system that I can
download/buy; it's a portable (and painless) package system that I can
use to administer my various *BSD and linux boxen.
>
> (3) Are you here to contribute, or to flame?
Good question; they're both so much fun.. ;)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Michael
>
> ---
>
> "7. Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen." -- Wittgenstein
>
>
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-Andres Salomon <dilinger@voxel.net>
(Please CC replies to my voxel address. I'm on the list, but my email
is in a state of disarray atm)
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