Re: "Why Debian NetBSD"
Hi,
> 1) The rest of the fundamental userland is still GNU. Is this enough to
> warrant calling it GNU/NetBSD?
> 2) Were we to call it GNU/NetBSD, would this be likely to be perceived as
> insulting by the NetBSD community? On the one hand it might sound like a
> grab by the GPL movement, but on the other hand it does clearly
> acknowledge the NetBSD contribution and differentiates it further from
> "true" NetBSD
> 3) Were we to fail to call it GNU/NetBSD, would we stand any chance
> whatsoever of getting it into Debian proper?
Well, let's not forget that "GNU/Linux" is not even using the GNU Kernel! So
what's a C library more or less? From
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html :
"Developing a whole system is a very large project. To bring it into reach, I
decided to adapt and use existing pieces of free software wherever that was
possible. For example, I decided at the very beginning to use TeX as the
principal text formatter; a few years later, I decided to use the X Window
System rather than writing another window system for GNU.
Because of this decision, the GNU system is not the same as the collection of
all GNU software. The GNU system includes programs that are not GNU software,
programs that were developed by other people and projects for their own
purposes, but which we can use because they are free software."
I assume there will be some people who will want to port the GNU C library to
Debian */*BSD if it ever becomes successful, anyways. Of course, that will open
a whole new can of worms... but that's in the future.
Now, re BSD vs NetBSD. Ideally, I'd like to see the various BSD components
become interchangeable, e.g. it should be possible to switch from a NetBSD
kernel to an OpenBSD kernel on a running Debian GNU/BSD system (well, after a
reboot). Until we have enough developers to make this feasible, however, we
might as well call it Debian GNU/NetBSD. The other case in which I would call
it just Debian GNU/BSD is if we were to maintain our own BSD Codebase, instead
of just tracking the NetBSD one. Of course, that would get the *BSD folks
screaming bloody murder due to further forking.
That was, of course, the technical side of things. Politically, I'd say we
should ask NetBSD-core to decide whether it's OK for us to call it Debian
GNU/NetBSD or whether we'll have to tone it down to Debian GNU/BSD. It's their
name, after all...
In any case, I'm very glad to see Debian */*BSD coming along nicely and I hope
to be able to dedicate a machine to it soon (the problem is not the number of
machines, but my time...) BTW, when are we starting an autobuilder? :)
- Michael
=====
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCS/MU d- s+:+ a--- C++ ULISBH+++ P+++ L++(-) E-
W--(+) N o? K? w--- !O !M V?> PS+++ !PE Y+ PGP-
t+(-) 5 X R+>+++ tv-- b++ DI(+) D G e->+++ h r-- y
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail!
http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/
Reply to: