Debian Pure Blends

+Jonas Smedegaard +

Khammam, October 20th, 2011

Overview

Debian is generic - Blends are specific
Purity: all is Debian
Why bother?
Technical details
Team, community, users
Future

Debian - the universal Operating System

Stable
Flexible

Debian is the universal Operating System.

Goal: Usable everywhere +

Debian - very flexible...

Flexible: good
Very flexible: very good

Debian - too flexible!

Flexible: good
Very flexible: very good
Very flexible: very confusing!

Debian is too flexible: confusing and to some even scary!

Debian - ways to simplify

Keep things as-is - educate users instead
Remove choice
Provide multiple defaults

Debian - simple if generic defaults are ok

Mainstream (but not too new) hardware
GNOME desktop
Iceweasel web browser
Exim MTA
Apache web server
MySQL database server

Debian is simple - if you happen to like its defaults.

Debian Pure Blend - Debian for a specific purpose

Debian Pure Blend (in short DDD): a subset of Debian configured to support a particular target group out-of-the-box.

Goal 1: Turn Debian into the distribution of choice for a specific target group +
Goal 2: Advertise this fact to the world to attract users and developers +

Debian Pure Blend - technical parts

package selection(s)
customizations

The concrete work to include as packages with official Debian.

Debian Pure Blend - reality parts

goals & noise about progress
package health + encourage additional software packaging
passion & patience
good relations with Debian package maintainers, competitors, and upstream authors
good relations with users

Surrounding work making a Blend relevant.

Debian Pure Blend - current blending projects

Debian Jr
Debian Med
Debian Edu
Debian Science
Debian EzGo
BrDesktop
Debian Accessibility
Debian Lex
DebiChem
Debian GIS
Debian Multimedia

Projects working on Blends - some pure, some not (yet)...

Debian Pure Blends - all Debian

Debian packages - selections (e.g. for tasksel to pick up)
Debian configuration - use of policy-compliant package-provided interfaces
Debian distribution media - installing via Debian itself

DDD: Debian packages Debian configured from Debian distribution +

Debian Pure Blends - why bother?

Nice on paper with ideals and priciples, but...

What's in it for me?!?

Debian Pure Blends - downsides

annoying - Debian package maintainers may not like proposed changes
slow - stable distribution is released infrequently
rigid - all contributions must match Debian Free Software Guidelines
complex - packages must obey Debian Policy

Debian Pure Blends - Benefits

backed by Debian - help, bug tracking, translations, etc.
teamwork - others might help you refine and maintain your setups
common structures - others might take over if you loose interest

Tech - Debian support overloading choices

Debian installer
tasksel
debconf
aptitude

Tech - examples of non-pure blending

include non-Debian packages or non-packaged stuff
include Debian packages from different Debian suite
configure system other than via Debian package installation
install using non-Debian media

You don't own your system - you provide one for others to own.

So don't refine it like a (sloppy) user: Handle it like a Debian developer!

Tech - Debian, generic setup

select package profile(s)
install

Tech - Debian, hand-tuned

select package profile(s)
select additional packages
install
(re)configure packages

Tech - Debian, auto-tuned

pre-seed package selection
pre-seed package configurations
install
(re)configure non-debconf packages

Tech - Debian Pure Blend = generic

select blend profile
install

Tech - tasks involved

extra software → into Debian officially
manual configurations → preseeding
maybe create temporary dirty hacks
maybe use/create reusable tweaks
eliminate dirty hacks and tweaks
convince others in Debian to add as tasksel task

Tech - blends-dev

Tool to help maintain package lists and prospective packages.

Example: http://debian-med.alioth.debian.org/tasks/psychology

Tech - dirty tricks

Avoid configuration files...

config.d folders
databases
networked data

Tech - tweaks

Reusable scripts compatible with one or more of...

FAI
hands-off at http://hands.com/d-i/
CFengine
Puppet

Tech - good style

Aptitude
debconf
Config::Model

Tech - When is it "Pure"?

When all is in Debian, with no dirty tricks:

package selection(s)
customizations
installation

Team - getting involved

identify and isolate tweaks at your own system
register missing software - on wiki page or (better!) in Debian BTS
write documentation
write the dream of how things ought to work
wite how details work now
discuss downstream (i.e. with users and subdistros) how things work / should work
discuss upstream (i.e. with authors) what is possible now / soon

Team - getting involved II

write intro for peer enthusiasts
decide and document ideal formats - translations, graphics etc.
prioritize pending tasks - of various kinds to encourage many different contributions
document where it is ok to ask beginners' questions
document if beginners can ask for a mentor

Team - getting involved III

make illustration
make screendumps
make fan graphics
make desktop backgrounds, CD covers, stickers, etc.
Register the project as a DOAP file, and maybe at Ohloh and Freshmeat etc.
Register and maintain relevant Debtags

Team - getting involved IV

Translate package descriptions
Translate debconf dialogs
Translate upstream code

Team - getting involved V

Help integrate contributions from graphics artists, translators and others
document decision processes of the team (and Debian and upstreams?)
document workflows in teams
insist on transparency - not only for code!

Team - Continuous status checks

Ask users about their needs - you will forget over time!
Ask teams about their tasks - each participant has slightly different perception of the common vision and status
Ask upstreams about use: perhaps potentials are missed, or code or persons feel as being abused

Debian Pure Blends - Future

debconf dontcare vs. explicit choice of default option
debconf query mechanism (and fill buffer from live system)
APT explicit choice of alternate dependency/recommendation
APT dontcare vs. explicit choice of default dependency/recommendation
Config::Model - semantic configfile handling