Re: Member distributions and popularity
----- "Javier Fernandez-Sanguino" <jfs@computer.org> wrote:
> You mean something like this:
> http://www.debian.org/misc/children-distros
Yes!
> I started it off a long time ago although I don't have the time to
> maintain it. Of course, there's lots of room for improvement there.
Right. I think one of the first areas for improvement would be making the page easier to find! The only thing I can see on www.debian.org that links to this is the Debian FAQ. Ideally, this list would show up as a direct link off of "Getting Debian".
My main suggestion is that rather than promoting all Debian variants we would promote those that follow some rules. For instance:
* The dist must display a "Real Debian GNU/Linux" logo (or something like that) on their site.
* The dist must pass some test suite we would make up that checks whether things work as we expect them to work in Debian.
* The dist developers go through some kind of Debian Developer kind of initiation where they promise us to play nice or something.
* Use our issue tracking/patch management/release/whatever procedures in a certain way that we define.
* Whatever else we decide they need to do.
In return for these considerations they would get their fancy new dist promoted on our world famous web site. These dists can take care of all kinds of specialized markets that we don't explicitly cater to.
* Incredibly computer illiterate people who can barely use their computer
* Kids/infants (who can later teach those just mentioned)
* Giant corporations who want to install Debian onto their weird proprietary thing and otherwise be very nice
* Other people who love to distribute proprietary blobs
The good news is that lots of these mini-dists already exist and would love this kind of program. It would give them more visibility and a sense of quality and good community behavior. It would help users avoid things that we know are badly behaved. Most of all it would expand the visibility of the Debian umbrella so that we feel like we are growing (which we are) rather than shrinking.
--
Ean Schuessler, CTO Brainfood.com
ean@brainfood.com - http://www.brainfood.com - 214-720-0700 x 315
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