Sounds like a great idea and as a user I can see how it will benefit me. Congrats Scott on The Move--we need you there. David <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 9:30 AM, Scott Balneaves <<a href="mailto:sbalneav@legalaid.mb.ca">sbalneav@legalaid.mb.ca</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Hello, Edubuntu lovers, After getting a lesson in packaging this weekend from our retired sage LaserJock, we has a short discussion about something that he set up for the Edubuntu developers and users which, I think if used effectively, will have a benificial impact on us all. If you're not aware, I've decided to go for my MOTU-ship, so that I can directly update packages in Universe. Now that we are allowed to put Universe packages on the DVD, seeing as we are our own distribution, this will make things much easier for us. We can (as I understand it) demote most or all of the education-related apps to Universe, then nothing more than being a MOTU will be required to maintain Edubuntu. This significantly lowers the barrier to entry. However, even becoming a MOTU does have it's cost. There's a long process one must go through in order to be given the keys to the kingdom, as it were. As well, even if you DO have MOTU, getting a new package, or an update, into Universe does take some time. This is where PPA's can come in to help. For those not in the know, a PPA is a Personal Package Archive. It's your own archive of packages which you can directly upload to at any time. We have a team within Edubuntu, called "edubuntu-dev", it consists of the current Edubuntu developers. You can see the team's page here. <a href="https://www.launchpad.net/%7Eedubuntu-dev/" target="_blank">https://www.launchpad.net/~edubuntu-dev/</a> You'll notice that, about halfway down the page, we have 3 PPA's, namely: Edubuntu Testing Archive Edubuntu Stable Updates Edubuntu Work in Progress Work in Progress for "Bleeding edge" or alpha quality work, "Testing" for beta quality packages, and "Stable Updates" for updates to packages that are currenly stable, but may have a bugfix that we can apply that hasn't yet made it to the official archives. Per LaserJock's suggestion, I'd like to propose that the developers, and the users, start taking advantage of this as the "Semi official" Edubuntu updates repo, over and above the official Ubuntu-sponsored updates. It has several advantages: 1) Users who wish to receive "more frequent" updates may add the appropriate PPA to their apt config, and gain the benefits. 2) Users who do NOT want to have anything other than the officially sponsored updates can simply ignore this ppa. 3) People who would like to become Edubuntu developers have a much lower barrier to entry. After doing a bit of packaging or bugfixing work to prove their worth, the Edubuntu Community Council can simply vote to have them as part of the "edubuntu-dev" team. This gives them access to the "edubuntu-dev" PPA's. If they choose, they can use their development work, when they've done enough of it, to eventually apply for official MOTU-ship. Or not, as they so choose. 4) It's a "well known address" where we can point people to to potentially receive more frequent updates. To me, it seems like a good course of action. By way of kicking it off, today I'll push up a new version of Sabayon to "Testing". This new version will allow you to apply Sabayon profiles by group, in addition to the usual by-user. Thoughts? Scott -- Scott L. Balneaves | He that breaks a thing to find out what it is Systems Department | has left the path of wisdom. Legal Aid Manitoba | -- J.R.R. Tolkien -- edubuntu-devel mailing list <a href="mailto:edubuntu-devel@lists.ubuntu.com">edubuntu-devel@lists.ubuntu.com</a> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-devel" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-devel</a> </blockquote></div>