Re: Skolelinux and the "Debian Labs" idea
* Anthony Towns <aj@azure.humbug.org.au> [2003-09-20 17:07]:
> By contrast, I wouldn't have a problem in principle with, eg, "HP
> Debian Labs".
I'd also have no problems with this. However, I also think that the
Debian Labs should not be used to make a profit. I think a HP Debian
Labs should be of a similar nature as HP Labs which is a research
facility. HP Debian Labs could do development, research and market
research. HP could of course provide support for Debian and sell it,
and also publizie their Debian expertise (including ther HP Debian
Labs), but they shouldn't use HP Debian Labs direcetly to sell any
services or products.
> Anyway, it's questionable what we want to have "Debian Labs" mean. Do we
> want it just to mean that there's a bunch of developers working in the
> same building on Debian stuff? Don't Progeny, HP and SkoleLinux already
> do all that?
Yes, I think that Progeny, HP and credativ are fulfiling functions
which could be classified as a "Debian Labs". However, as described
above, a Debian Labs should be a subset of their activities.
> Is it appropriate for developers to hang "Debian Labs" on the
> doorknob to their bedrooms or studies?
I guess not really; it should be bigger than that. "How big" is a
difficult question, though.
> Do we want it to imply something more than that, like people working
> in the Debian Labs should be employed fulltime to develop Debian? Is it
> enough that all the stuff they develop gets packaged and put in Debian?
Yeah, at least parttime, better fulltime.
> Or should they be employing fulltime one or more Debian developers
> without having any control over what they work on? If the latter, who
> should be saying what they work on?
No, I think they should have control over their employees. Debian
Labs should be autonomous from Debian (but of course there should be a
good working relationship).
> Is it appropriate for Debian Labs guys to do support as well as
> development? Could you have a Debian Lab that preinstalls Debian systems
> and fixes them when they break? If so, does everyone in the lab have to
> be a registered developer? Is it okay to install software from contrib or
If they don't charge (or perhaps charge but not make a profit?) then
they can of course install Debian on systems. For example, I think it
would be nice if they would go around and show Debian in schools and
help them set it up.
> non-free on such machines? Unpackaged stuff? Stuff packaged locally? LSB
> stuff? Proprietary stuff like win4lin or CrossoverOffice?
non-free/proprietary stuff, better not. Unpackaged/LSB, I think so,
yeah.
> Do we want to allow people to earmark donations for a particular
> Debian Lab, as a way of indirectly allowing users to sponsor
> particular developers or projects? Is it possible for SPI or similar
Yes, I think we could encourage people to give 1/2 of their donation
to SPI And 1/2 to a Debian Lab.
--
Martin Michlmayr
leader@debian.org
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