Debian Derivatives Exchange project launched
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The Debian Project http://www.debian.org/
Debian Derivatives Exchange project launched press@debian.org
March 18th, 2011 http://www.debian.org/News/2011/20110318
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Debian Derivatives Exchange project launched
The Debian Project has taken another important step towards better
collaboration with its more than 300 derivative distributions by
launching the Debian dErivatives eXchange project (DEX). The core idea
behind DEX is to reduce the technical differences (informally called
"delta") between Debian and its derivatives. This is mainly accomplished
by easing the integration of patches from derivatives. Making available
the patches from all derivatives results not only in a better system for
all involved parties, but also eases the workload of the derivatives by
reducing the differences derivatives have to maintain themselves.
1: http://dex.alioth.debian.org
The DEX project complements the already existing Debian derivatives
front desk [2] by organizing cross-distribution working groups and
projects to monitor and merge changes from derivatives into Debian
proper. In DEX, developers from both Debian and derivatives work
side-by-side to merge changes into Debian. A first working group is the
DEX Ubuntu Team [3], targeting to integrate packages and changes
available in Ubuntu back into Debian, continuing the work of the already
existing Utnubu Team on a more general level. A gNewSense DEX Team is
also expected in the near future: "If you can't measure it, it doesn't
exist, especially when you measure numbers of defects you want to fix.
Arguably, most of the deltas between Debian and its derivatives need to
be fixed, by merging them back into Debian. DEX has the potential to
host a number of cross-distro initiatives that will measure and
ultimately reduce existing deltas among Debian and its derivatives."
Stefano Zacchiroli (Debian Project Leader and co-founder of DEX)
explains about this project.
2: http://wiki.debian.org/DerivativesFrontDesk
3: http://dex.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/
The Debian Project invites all Debian based distributions and other
projects to join the DEX project and work together on a common base. As
Matt Zimmerman (Chair of the Ubuntu Technical Board and co-founder of
DEX) says: "If you want to see Debian benefit from technical work done
in derivatives, DEX is a chance for you to act together to make it
happen. If you work on a derivative and want to carry a smaller delta,
come and join us. I'm sure we'll learn a lot from this experience."
About Debian
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The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly free
community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of the
largest and most influential open source projects. Over three thousand
volunteers from all over the world work together to create and maintain
Debian software. Translated into over 70 languages, and supporting a
huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the "universal
operating system".
Contact Information
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For further information, please visit the Debian web pages at
http://www.debian.org/ or send mail to <press@debian.org>.
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