Debian Common Core Alliance

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Thu, Jan 05, 2006 at 03:56:17AM +0100, Magnus Blomfelt wrote:
> The reason distros modify the core is because they don't see a reason not
> to. There now is a reason and a lot of distros have chosen to use a common
> core and add functionality as modules instead.

I can't agree with this.  Building a distribution is a lot of work, and we
don't create more work for ourselves without good reason.

> Of course it's possible, the DCC model in fact improves the situation for
> ISVs.  If they want to certify to the whole OS, they first certify for DCC
> and then to the other parts of that OS. When certifying for the next OS,
> the DCC part is already done. Of course not only certifying gets easier,
> but also developing and bug fixing.

It's an interesting idea, but in practice it doesn't meet the needs of ISVs.
I'm not aware of any ISVs who are willing to do certifications in this way.

> Having a common core, in my opinion, makes it easier to collaborate at the
> source code level.

I don't see how; can you explain?  I don't think that even the DCCA
themselves make this claim; their justification for a common binary core is
based on certification (and I don't have much faith in that approach, as
outlined above).  They don't claim that it aids collaboration.

-- 
 - mdz