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Re: Is Ubuntu a debian derivative or is it a fork?



Tollef Fog Heen(tfheen@err.no)@2005-05-31 18:06:
> * Stephen Birch 
> 
> | The project seems to have established a mechanism for putting new
> | packeges directly into Ubuntu.  Are new Ubuntu packages also put in
> | Debian by the Ubuntu team members?
> 
> Yes.

Let me give you an example.  I filed an ITP this morning on a
promising package called wifi-radar.

After writing the ITP I discovered someone has already built a deb for
Ubuntu and placed it on the Ubuntu wiki.  But they did not file an
ITP.

Normal debian etiquette identifies the maintainer of a new package as
the first person to file an ITP.  So how is this coordinated with
Ubuntu?

Unless I missed the ITP and filed a double by mistake we appear to
have two independent wifi-radar maintainers now. The Ubuntu one and
the debian one. In this instance there isnt an issue, I just want to
see the software packaged and I'll happily yeald to the other
maintainer if he/she wants.  But I can see the possibility of a
conflict in future when this happens with other packages.

> | The Ubuntu literature indicates that Ubuntu is a derivative of debian
> | but it looks more like a fork to me.
> 
> It's a spoon.

And a very good looking spoon indeed.  I like Ubuntu and am switching
my customer base over to it from Debian.

But I sure want to see good coordination between Ubuntu and Debian.

> 
> | Also, when Ubuntu makes improvements to packages how do those
> | improvements flow back to Debian?
> 
> Patches to bugs, debian maintainers picking up the patches from the
> patch repository, inter-team communication.  It depends.

Still looks more like a fork than a derivative ..... or a spoon :-)

Steve



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