Debian Pure Blends - hacking in your parents' house

Jonas Smedegaard

Nitte, Mangalore, October 28th, 2011

Overview

Me and Asia
Tricky terms
FLOSS Eco System
Debian - distro & community
Customizing Debian

Me and Asia

Asia trip

Tricky terms

FLOSS: Free/Libre Open Source Software.

Hacking: Being creative with small pieces -- like playing with Lego.

Cracking: Breaking digital "locks", typically to steal digital data.

FLOSS Eco System

Software Code Stream

Debian - distro & community

Community
Distribution
Free!

Debian - Community

~1000 "Developers"
~500 "Maintainers"
??? actual contributors...

Debian - Community structure

Democracy

Debian - Community structure

Democracy
We all obey Debian Free Software Guidelines
Almost no hierarchy: Each package maintainer responsible

Debian - Distribution

Generic - choices are exposed to the user
Mother of other distros

Debian packages

They all obey Debian Policy
Mozilla Iceweasel (Firefox): ~3 packages (+ ~70 lang packages)
LibreOffice: ~30 packages (+ ~90 lang packages)
Debian: ~35.000 packages

Debian packaging - Mentors + sponsoring

Peer review - many eyes see more bugs
Education - Debian quality standards
Ideals transfer - get help on packaging
Mailinglist:
IRC channel on OFTC.net: #debian-mentors
Website: http://mentors.debian.net/

Debian packaging - Join teams

Peer review - many eyes see more bugs
Education - Debian quality standards
Ideals transfer - get help on packaging
Wiki page: http://wiki.debian.org/Teams

Debian - derivatives

Knoppix
Ubuntu
BOSS
SWECHA
...

Debian deriving

Try use live-builder...

Debian - blends

Optimizing Debian itself for special purpose use

Merging back derived work into Debian

Debian - existing blends

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

Debian - future blends

FreedomBox
Debian LAN
BOSS?
SWECHA?
...?

Debian blending

Join existing teams
Convince Debian Developers to create new teams
Try use boxer

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

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

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

The End

Me:
Debian: http://www.debian.org
Debian Derivatives Census: http://wiki.debian.org/Derivatives/Census
This talk: http://dr.jones.dk/blends/talk/nitte
Illustrations: http://sirireiter.dk/blog/entry/110310/
Asia trip: http://wiki.jones.dk/DebianAsia2011