Benjamin Mako Hill
Fork Yours With Debian GNU/Linux
Wednesday, November 17, 2004, - 6:30pm-8pm
IBM Building, 12th Floor, 590 Madison Ave @ 57th Street
Debian is the largest GNU/Linux distribution in terms of size and
participation. That is a declarative statement, no hedging, but oh so
true. As projects including Ubuntu, Knoppix, UserLinux, Lindows,
Debian-NP realize. Empirically Debian is a firm foundation upon which to
build new Linux distributions. Benjamin Mako Hill, free software
advocate, Debian developer will present this November 17 on Debian as
the basis for new Linux distributions.
Customizing Debian has become so widespread that most Debian users
(in a loose sense of the word) never know their system is Debian-based.
The benefits of deriving distributions are clear; the hidden drawbacks
are just as real. This talk engages both perspectives and introduces
some possible solutions. The rest of this announcement covers the
details of the presentation.
To begin, Mako will introduce Debian as a basis for customization and
describe why it is a useful place to begin work. This is followed by a
look at the customizers' goals, achieved by breaking down the types of
customizations:
- Custom software selection;
- Custom software configuration;
- Software replacement;
- Custom installers/envrionments;
Next. Why is customization (in these ways) problematic? what sorts of
problems are introduced? The reproduced labor peril? free software can
save you. There are several solutions that different groups are
employing, each with their limitations. Three examples serve to
clarify:
- UserLinux -- do all the work in Debian and rely soley metapackages
- Skolelinux -- working within Debian but creating a seperate
distribution with a multi-tier configuration infrastructure
- Ubuntu -- a sort of semi-fork balanced by patching and version
control infrastructure
Mako will then analyze the nature of customization. As case in point
he will discuss the following technologies:
- The Custom Debian Distribution (CDD) framework
- metapackages (autogenerated and otherwise)
- DebConf preseeding combined with the addition of low-priority
DebConf questions
- cfengine tweaks
- distribution aware version control tools
Each concept will be pored over, and how projects use them.
In summation, this presentation discusses some of the tricks and
concepts that constitute the likes of Xandros, MEPIS, Skolelinux, and by
extension show you what you need to start considering if you want to
create your fork. As usual, Stammtisch will be the perfect place to
press the flesh, meet, and elicit Mako's freed mindshare.
For More Information Visit:
About Benjamin Mako Hill:
Benjamin Mako Hill is a Debian Developer, Debian Project Leader
delegate and the Vice President of Software in the Public Interest. He
founded the Debian-NP Custom Distribution and is the community "dude"
for the commercial Debian derived Ubuntu. He is a transplanted
Seattlite, a writer on issues of intellectual property, and
"copyrighteous" blogger.
