Re: Is Ubuntu a debian derivative or is it a fork?
On Wed, 1 Jun 2005, Matt Zimmerman wrote:
This would be very convenient, but it isn't quite as simple as this. If the
maintainer is inactive, how does the Uploaders field get changed? Ubuntu
developers will not hijack packages in Debian.
Well, this problem is not unique for Ubuntu developers but for any other
developer as well. We should deal with this. I'm not sure whether this
is an issue for the technical commitee or how we should cope with this problem.
In any case we need a solution here.
Derivatives are a fact of life, and have been for some years now. It would
be better to learn how to cooperate effectively than to wish that they would
go away. There will always be some level of divergence in a derivative,
even an official Debian subproject.
Sure. I'm not against derivatives. But people who derive Debian want to solve
a certain problem which forces them to derive. If Debian would be able to
recognize the problem and would try to fix it inside Debian will become better
at one hand and the derivative can save a lot of time on the other hand. So
booth parties can profit if as much work what can be done would be done
inside Debian. I'm not against derivatives - I'm voting for *clever*
derivatives. My idea about a "clever" derivative is to enhance Debian to
a maximum and do outside only the small part which *really* can not be
done inside Debian.
So if it would enhance the package quality to switch to group maintainance
this should be done for those packages where it makes sense - for the profit
of Debian, Ubuntu and others.
Kind regards
Andreas.
--
http://fam-tille.de
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