Manoj: > Sometimes, too many cooks do indeed spoil the broth. Plausible reasons have been advanced on both sides, but how much weight does plausibility really carry? If experience trumps theory, then my view is that Manoj is right about this. Loic: > Utopia which is working pretty nicely with Ubuntu... I hope that Loic will not be angry if I argue. I don't know how nicely Utopia is working with Ubuntu, but in any case Ubuntu employs different means to pursue different ends. There are undoubtedly a few things we could learn from Ubuntu, but there are probably a few things we could learn from Nissan Motor Company and the Boy Scouts of America, too. The point is, Ubuntu isn't Debian. Debian maintainers can indeed sometimes protect their turf too extremely, as John has correctly observed; and when this happens it is hard to deny that it harms our users and free software. However, much of Debian's innate power comes from artist's pride. We like having our own packages to rule for much the same reason a family likes having its own freestanding house to rule, for much the same reason you like having your own personal computer to rule. It makes us happy. It makes us happy, even when our rule is manifestly imperfect. It makes us happy and it doesn't come free: we have put a lot of time and care into our packages. Make us unhappy, and we stop building Debian. Unconvinced, a few might assert that our happiness, our artist's pride, even our conceit, is not their concern; that they are thinking of the greater good of the user. To such pleasant Robespierrean metaphysicality one can only say: well, okay, whatever; let the Jacobins march someone else to the guillotine; we won't go. Our priorities are our users and free software; our estimate of how to meet such priorities is rooted in the rich soil of our own institutional experience. Too many cooks do indeed spoil the broth. We prefer to run our kitchen in the traditional Debian way. -- Thaddeus H. Black 508 Nellie's Cave Road Blacksburg, Virginia 24060, USA +1 540 961 0920, t@b-tk.org, thb@debian.org
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