Re: The Kernel (fwd)

[Rick Jones <rickya@siservices.net>]

George Bonser wrote:
> 
> I am speaking about 0.1  .... notice the 0 before the dot. It is not 1.0,
> it is 0.1  This allows us to put a package together.  We move that to
> stable (but not release!) and the UI folks come up with a desktop and we
> decide on what we are going to use  .... great, we fold that into unstable
> and bump the rev to 0.2.  Maybe we make some kernel changes ... fine.
> That gets added in.  Maybe then we want to move 0.2 to stable and start
> work on 0.3.

I understand what a minor revision number is.  It's only common sense
that while SEUL 0.1 is being worked on that at some point it will be
completely Debian.  You have refering to putting it out (releasing it)
Like that.  That has been my beef.  It can sit on the FTP site in
whatever form as long as it isn't "released" even to alpha testers
before it is brought inline with what SEUL is.

I've been using Debian since before 1.0 was reached.  It was still
Debian.

> The alternative is to sit here bickering about every single package to
> make 0.1 unique and either nothing happens or it is obsolete before we
> release it.

We only bicker because you tend to ignore what we say about SEUL.  

How is SEUL going to be obsolete before it's released?  SEUL is a
structure.  You get the structure layed out and apply the appropriate
software objects to it.  The only part of SEUL that can become obsolete
is any custom programs that depend on a specific version of libc, for
example.  So if libc changes before SEUL v?.? is released you have the
programmer update his/her program to bring it in line with the new
version of libc.  Which the programmer has probably already done.

> No, but I can take a two-door Malibu that grandma is driving and make a
> hell of a street terror out of it :)

Sure.  But you still call it a Malibu.  Because that's what it is.

> Maybe I will make this a little clearer for you ... 0.1 is going to be
> Debian 2.0.  If you want to make changes to Window Maker, for example, get
> the Debian 2.0 window maker source package and debian diff, unpack the
> source, apply the diff.  Make your changes, create a new diff and a new
> .deb package and that becomes our package if your changes are adopted as
> the SEUL package.

And it wouldn't carry a SEUL revision number until it is ready to be
included in the distro, meaning the "revision" is finished.

No.  Debian 2.0 is Debian 2.0.  You don't slap a revision number on it
until it is revised.  If the revision isn't *complete* you call it
pre-alpha-0.1 then once it's complete you call it alpha-0.1, the next
bug fix would be alpha-0.1.1, the next major change would be alpha-0.2,
then once it's bug free you call it beta-1.0 after having an alpha-1.0
testing.  If we're lucky it will then become v 1.0, final.

The process of revising is to *change* it to meet specified
requirements.  In our situation those requirements are to modify
existing packages to be easily used by the novice/intermediate win95
user that has never used a *nix before.  That means that all software
outlined to be included in the final SEUL version are included in it to
varying degrees of development.  That's when it becomes a SEUL revision.