Re: non-free software
Hi,
>>"Alex" == Alex Yukhimets <aqy6633@acf5.nyu.edu> writes:
Alex> Now *this* is a serious question. The fact is that in addition
Alex> to usual excuses - like having no time, etc. there is one more
Alex> reason: Debian is very hard to base a commercial distribution
Alex> on. In our attempt to make Debian upgradable we change the
Alex> scheme of dependencies quite frequently, taking into account
Alex> only existing debian packages and not providing any "hooks" for
Alex> add-ons. I had a chance to think about it during the discussion
Alex> of a Vitamin-D (remember?). I thing that it is the main reason
Alex> the there is no (at least I am not aware of) Debian-based
Alex> commercial distribution.
I was not aware that that is the case. I think that once most
packages stabilize, the set of dependencies are largly frozen, and in
any respect the scheme of dependencies has remained unchanged almost
since the inception of Debian. I think I do not understand what you
are trying to say here.
What could Debian do to improve the situation? What kind of
hooks are needed? Could you give examples of such major violations
that a distribution could not be based on bo, and then upgraded for
hamm (using a variation of autoup.sh)? That may help narrow down the
problems at hand, and make us more friendly to people basing other
distributions on us.
I see no problems off hand, unless there happens to be a
a commercial/non-debian package that clashes with a debian package of
the same name, in which case it may make sense for the people to help
out the debian maintainer and not duplicate effort (or become the
debian maintainer as the case may be).
manoj
--
... The neutron bomb is a nuclear device that kills people without
destroying buildings. Many people feel this is inhumane; they much
prefer the old- fashioned humane-type nuclear devices that kill
people *and* destroy buildings. Western Europe's reaction to the
neutron bomb has been mixed: most buildings are for it, and most
people are against it, on the grounds that it might kill them.
They're always wallowing in sentiment, those Western Europeans. Dave
Barry, _Bad Habits_
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@acm.org> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
Key C7261095 fingerprint = CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E
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