LCC and Debian: next steps
I'm pleased at the discussion this thread has generated. Thanks to
everyone who has participated.
As a next step, I've created a mailing list where we can continue the
discussion (lsb-workers@lists.progeny.com,
http://lists.progeny.com/listinfo/lsb-workers/). I'm out of town
all day today, but I'll go through this thread again tonight and post
a summary of the issues that came up sometime tomorrow. (I also have
several messages flagged for follow-up that I'll get to then as well.)
I'd also like to start doing some experimentation too. The key is to
build both .debs and RPMs from a single source package, to make the
methodology and mechanism completely transparent (i.e., the binary
packages aren't just "take it or leave it" and can be rebuilt from
source and patched if necessary, though at the risk of potentially
losing certifications), and to start working through some
of the compatibility layer issues I've already brought up (i.e.,
file system and package namespace differences)
to see how big the task of compatibility really is in practice.
As a start, I've asked one of the Progeny folks to experiment with
building RPMs from Debian source. Once we have a minimal set of
RPMs built from Debian source, we can compare the result with some
RPM-based distros to begin exploring where the differences are. I
expect we'll want to do the same thing from the other direction
(building .debs from SRPMs), and I'll suggest to one of the RPM-based
members that they being exploring that. This will give us a better
idea of the true issues involved, and combined with more philosophical
differences (e.g., the obstacles to a common kernel as regards
proprietary firmware), will make the next steps much clearer from here.
I'd strongly invite everyone with an interest in this issue to subscribe
to the mailing list and participate.
--
Ian Murdock
317-578-8882 (office)
http://www.progeny.com/
http://ianmurdock.com/
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in
the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was
vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may
act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible." -T.E. Lawrence
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