Research on decentralized package management

[Mark Shuttleworth]

Hi Kate

It's an interesting and thorny problem. I don't think Ubuntu has all the
answers but we can perhaps share some insight.

There are great advantages to packaged software. If you talk to folks
who manage large numbers of systems, they will share a preference for
getting as much as possible from a central package repository. That's
why there's continual pressure to add more packages to the archives of
Debian, Ubuntu and all the other distributions.

On the other hand, the packaging process introduces delays, friction,
and editorial freedom that isn't always welcome.

We would certainly be a supporter of a credible attempt to simplify and
standardise packaging across Linux. Unfortunately, the LSB and other
efforts have usually fallen into the approach of picking one, and trying
to get everyone else to adopt it. Fans of Debian and Ubuntu would say
that the .deb format offers a better long term experience to users than
RPM can, and I'd agree.

Mark