"hello? ping! ping!", plus "my wish list", plus "democracy sucks"
Hi there. I don't seem to be getting any mail from the debian
lists. If this doesn't go through I'll try re-sending it to Ian
Jackson or something...
MY DEBIAN WISHLIST:
1. Source packages that can be compiled and installed as easily as
binary packages.
You know what I mean. I just want to type
"dpkg --install ./foo-1.3-3.sdeb" and then be able to execute
"foo" after the call to dpkg completes. (Hint: most sdeb packages
will pre-depend on "gcc" and "make" and "configure"...)
Advantages:
* portability to other hardware platforms
* optimized binaries for your particular CPU brand and model (this
is becoming more and more significant with the proliferation
of x86-compatible CPUs)
* upgrading via source patch instead of binary copy
* everybody should have source! (education/security/hacking)
Disadvantages:
* major harddisk wastage
2. Java. Well first we need JDK1.1!!! But of course that isn't
Debian's problem. But what Debian _could_ do is make installers
that package up Java apps (e.g. Sun's JavaWorkshop and Corel's
Office for Java) and install them nicely.
3. PGP signed packages. Yeah, I know that PGP is crummy to access
programmatically and there are those damned legal issues, but it is
important.
4. Monetary rewards for Debian hackers. You've heard of the FSU
Task List which people can submit awards to? I want to submit
awards to Debian hackers who hack things that I need. There are
ugly legal tangles to navigate through here, too, but this too is
important.
5. Better replacement for dselect. (I know, you've heard it
before, but I thought I should mention it.)
6. Ftp proxying support for dpkg. I'm behind a firewall, so
I have to manually download Packages.gz and then I've written a
Perl script to look for packages which are new to me or packages
which have available upgrades. Hopefully "New Improved Dselect"
will do standard ftp proxying (the kind where you send:
"ftp://ftp.debian.org/path/filename"; at the beginning.). (BTW, if
anybody wants my Perl script I'll send it. It has a nice re-usable
function that takes package text and returns an associative array
of "paramname, paramval" pairs.)
Finally, just a friendly bit of advice: democracy sucks. I guess
it is an improvement over the consensus model that Debian has just
grown out of, but probably you are going to have to evolve to
(horrors) a standard businesslike hierarchy, or a beneficient
autarchy or something. Good luck, and May the Force be With You!
Regards,
Zooko Journeyman
Disclaimers follow: I am not a crook. NOT speaking for DigiCash
or any other person or organization. No PGP sig follows.
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