If Debian wants to grow, let it grow. Or: King James reading Anarchy FAQ
Hello,
obviously, everyone agrees that we can't include the whole Internet in the
Debian distribution. But also obviously, it would be hard for Debian to
agree on a line to draw what to include or not.
I think the solution is very easy. If the Internet can't come to Debian, let
Debian enter the Internet. This is how it works:
* Make sure that every *.deb package carries an "Origin:" field! This is so
obvious, and was proposed so many times.
make sure that only Debian packages carry an "Original Debian" origin
field. Make sure that this is somehow trackable (pgp, gpg or whatever).
* Make sure all building tools can use and understand the Origin field.
Make dpkg complain if the origin field is missing or broken. Make sure it
warns if someone tries to install a non-verificable package or a non-Debian
package.
* Make sure that it is easy for people to produce *.deb packages. This is
almost done:
+ We have alien to convert rpm and tar files.
+ We have lintian to check for policy conformance.
+ We have debhelper.
* Make it easy for people to use third party repositories. This is already
done, apt can do it.
Announce it. Spread the word.
We like to have control over all deb packages. OTOH, we don't want
everything in our archive that someone considers useful. That's not
possible. We have to compromise one or the other.
The solution is that people can offer their own deb packages without effort,
and people can get those without effort. This way, we can refuse to include
packages without censoring them. We just say: Well, a copy of a html site is
not something we like, especially if it is not software related. Please make
it available on your own web site, this is how you do it... yadda yadda.
We can even put a list of "preferred" or "good" third party repositories on
our homepage or in a Debian package.
Almost everything is already done. What is missing is an origin field in
every package.
This is RH's contrib section done right. I can even imagine some people
building META repositories, which carry (information about) other repositories.
Comments?
Thanks,
Marcus
--
`Rhubarb is no Egyptian god.' Debian http://www.debian.org finger brinkmd@
Marcus Brinkmann GNU http://www.gnu.org master.debian.org
Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de for public PGP Key
http://homepage.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/Marcus.Brinkmann/ PGP Key ID 36E7CD09
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