Debian Pure Blends

Jonas Smedegaard

HCU, Hyderabad, October 21th, 2011

Overview

Internet
Home
Debian
Debian Pure Blends
FreedomBox

Internet

Internet is parallel to the real World

Your mission in this World?

Astronaut?
Professor?
Mother?
Millionaire?

Passion

Missions
Passions!
Curiosity!

Key elements in life (and computer life)

Passions
Curiosity
Home
Trust

Home

Where you are safe
Where you can store goods
Where you can fumble and experiment

Trust

trust: feeling comfortable as guest in another home
proper trust == mutual trust

Healthy environment

everyone has a home
everyone is driven by passions
everyone finds mutual trust in some others

Debian - your new home?

Independent from commercial interests
Localized into 100+ languages
Neighbourhood of friendly users
Maintained by passionate developers
You are welcome to share your passions as an equal peer

Debian - the universal Operating System

Free Software
100% created and governed by volunteers
Very very stable
Very very big
Flexible...

Debian is "the universal Operating System"

Debian - very flexible...

Flexible: good
Very flexible: very good

Debian - too flexible!

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

Debian is maybe too flexible: confusing or even scary...

Debian - ways to simplify

Tolerate it: Use it as-is
Remove choice: Use e.g. Ubuntu
Use a Debian Pure Blend

Debian - simple if generic defaults are ok

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

Debian is simple - if you like the defaults.

Ubuntu - your new home?

Nicer than Debian - if you like the defaults

Debian Pure Blend - Debian for a specific purpose

a subset of Debian configured to support a particular target group out-of-the-box.

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

Deebian Pure Blends - future blends

FreedomBox
Debian LAN

Home alone...

Calls are lost when you are out
Friends cannot see your "wall" when you are out

A bigger house for all your devices

Your desktop/laptop
Your phone
Another computer at school or at a friend...

Have a butler!

Lets friends in, holds back random guests (=spam)
shows guests what they are allowed to see (=wall)
...

Example: Store and play music

Chat with butler
Make backup of your computer/phone
→ Butler notice music files, and suggests starting jukebox
Chat with a friend
→ Butler suggest sharing with friend what you are listening to
Friend also share jukebox status
→ Butler

FreedomBox - your personal privacy manager

Provides tools to keep in control of your privacy

FreedomBox - Dreams...

Follows your activities and learns your trust paths
Calculates new trust paths
Suggests use of the tools

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

Final words...

Be passionate!

Share your passion!

Final words...

Be passionate!

Share your passion!

This talk: http://dr.jones.dk/blends/talk/hcu/