A few months ago, I asked a set of questions on development mailing lists of a few GNU/Linux distributions. This resulted in very interesting discussions. As promised back then, all the answers from all distros I contacted can be read on the web or as an mbox file.
Also, Freedesktop.org kindly agreed to host a mailing list to ease discussions between distributions, and act as a central point of contact. You can subscribe, and post to distributions at lists dot freedesktop dot org.
This mailing list is for people involved (or interested) in the development of distributions. Questions that are on-topic are both technical and social/organizational issues, like:
- How do you achieve graphical boot in your distro? Do you use some kind of dependancy-based or events-based boot?
- How do you package both ruby 1.8, ruby 1.9 and jruby, or handle KDE vs KDE4?
- Do you use a system that gives a limited set of rights to new contributors?
Off-topic stuff obviously include trolling about which distribution is the best one, or user support.
Don’t hesitate to forward this announcement to all interested parties. Let’s make this mailing list something useful together!
Also, I really apologize for procastinating announcing this list for sooo long. I’m really good at procastinating interesting stuff, it seems.
Hi Lucas! This sounds potentially like something I would be interested in, but I wanted to make sure I’m reading you right. Would this be a good list to discuss things like:
– What are the major differences between java packages in Ubuntu vs Debian?
– Why is X package available in Fedora but ignored in RHEL/Centos?
– In Debian, how do I account for package X and package Y both being valid dependencies?
(just trying to make sure I understand the ‘feel’ of this new list =) )
@Daniel: It depends. If those issues are interesting enough for all the distros involved, that’s fine. By the goal of this list is really to learn how others are adressing problems.
Regarding Java, for example, it could be interesting to ask how various distros handle the fact that you can “switch” between java interpreters.
Actually, the kind of questions I’m hoping is things like: in package X is ignored in Fedora but ignored in RHEL, because [insert reasons based on your research]. Other distros probably have the same problem. How do you solve it, or work around it?
However, it will probably take some time before we really know what’s on-topic and off-topic, so feel free to post about what *you* think is relevant :)
You might care about my efforts to consolidate packaging workflows across distros.
I would appreciate if you could add a link to your article and if we could cooperate more in the future.
Have considered Linux Foundation’s lists, in particular Desktop Architects?
https://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop_architects