Re: SEUL: Starting point for SEUL - why not simply offer alternate installer for Debian?

[George Bonser <grep@oriole.sbay.org>]

On Tue, 27 Jan 1998, Roland Turner wrote:

> It seems to me that for SEUL to start from scratch would be something of
> a waste of time. Instead, it should build on an existing distribution.
> Such a distribution should:

Which is, in fact, what has been decided.

> 
> - already be capable of package management (RedHat and Debian spring to
> mind)

Debian was decided on.

> - actively soloicit third party freeware extension

A major goal, I think.  The concept of a stable core as a target for
development should help this along considerably.

> (*) This deserves some explanation. Yes, SEUL should be straightforward
> to install and maintain initially, and should present a limited number
> of choices to novices, but it should be attractive to experienced users
> as well, in fact it would be good for some portion of the users who come
> to SEUL as novices to become experienced users. If the only pacakges
> that can be installed are the comparitively small number that the SEUL
> team can maintain, then the unpleasant possibility of having to switch
> to another distribution, or indeed, avoid SEUL to begin with, raises
> itself.

I think SEUL will provide a more extensive default installation than any
other distribution but the choice to be Debian based allows the user
considerable freedom in configuring their own system to their liking.

> brain-dead, hard to use and exceedingly ugly. Providing a much simpler
> installer would make Debian an excellent base for novices and gurus
> alike - even gurus benefit from being able to complete installs in a
> hurry and without a lot of stuffing around.

There will be more than a simpler installer.  If that is all there is to
it, then SEUL is noting more than an installer project for Debian. The
concept of a documented Core with predictable behavior is important as
well as easy installation and useful default configurations. Debian
installs in such a "vanilla" fashion as to be nearly useless in some
areas. SEUL intends to change that.

> Importantly, it is fairly likely that Debian would take this onboard
> their own distribution, much as they do any other package. The fact that
> it would appear as an installer is a little novel, but the nett result
> would be great for both Debian and SEUL and avoid the creation of yet
> another distribution to choose from, instead users could, having chosen
> the Debian distribution, choose how difficult (powerful :-)) an
> installer they wanted.

I would hope that Debian DOES incorporate SEUL's installer and package
defaults or at least give the user a choice to select SEUL defaults.  In
addition to being Debian based, we hope to work closely with their
devlopers.  It might not be unusual for a SEUL project member to also be
maintaining the official Debian package as well as the SEUL package or
vice versa.  In an optimum situation, there might only be a single package
that installs itself configured according to its target system (Hmm, I am
installing on a SEUL system or a Debian system where the user wants SEUL
defaults ... better set it up that way).

There are a LOT of packages in Debian looking for new maintainers (kde is
one) ... it might help BOTH distributions if packages were "distribution
aware" and save a lot of duplicated effort.

The above is opinion not policy.


George Bonser 
If NT is the answer, you didn't understand the question. (NOTE: Stolen sig)
http://www.debian.org
Debian/GNU Linux ... the maintainable operating system.