An intermediate release to `bo' and `hamm' (Re: No Debian updates?)

[Raja R Harinath <harinath@cs.umn.edu>]

Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com> writes:
> > Still, I imagine a debian release between stable and unstable. Stable is
> > nice for the space shuttle or other critical purposes. But, let's say, the
> > netscape installer package: There's no bug in the old version. But I think
> > there should be a place outside the developers' corner for the new one ...
> > Somewhere, where dselect can be used. ?
> 
> I've thought about this myself too.
> 
> What would be nice is a "cutting edge, but reliable" distribution that 
> was separate from the standard stable release.  This could possibly be 
> done by a different project than Debian (or even a company).  It would
> be based on the standard stable major releases, and would be supplemented
> by more up-to-date packages from unstable.  It would be fully tested,
> and released on a monthly basis.   

[snip]

> It's difficult, if not impossible, for us (the Debian developers) to 
> do well-tested and thought out releases on a tighter timetable than 
> what we are doing for the major releases (3-6 months).  This is due
> to the distributed, volunteer nature of the organization.
> 
> But the packaging system itself can support a much tighter release
> schedule than what we are capable of.  dpkg's system of dependencies
> and conflicts means that it is possible to support building releases
> and upgrading in a very piecemeal manner.  A separate organization
> dedicated to building a "cutting edge, but reliable" distribution
> from the raw output from the Debian project could be very successful.

Even if not for this reason, I think an intermediate release would be
quite useful.

I'm thinking of a hamm-friendly bo (hbo? :-) -- which basically has all
the `libc5' libraries from hamm.  People using `bo' would upgrade to
`hbo', which basically moves all the libc5 libraries from /usr/lib to
/usr/lib/libc5-compat, and all devel tools into /usr/i486-linuxlibc1;
leaving thing in a state most amenable to upgrading to `hamm'.  This
could be a mini-distribution, which just has the libraries, and maybe
the `altdev's, and some packages that are closely dependent on the exact
version of the shared libs (`bash' would be one, I guess).

Such a distribution would help greatly in the Libc5 to Libc6 migration.

- Hari
--  
Raja R Harinath ------------------------------ harinath@cs.umn.edu
"When all else fails, read the instructions."      -- Cahn's Axiom
"Our policy is, when in doubt, do the right thing."   -- Roy L Ash


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