New Derivative Distribution team formed.

[David Farning]

I would like to introduce a new team to the Ubuntu Community - the
DerivativeTeam[1].

I many ways I have been frustrated by the fragmented nature of open
source projects and distributions.  Many projects and distributions
often seem to treat other projects and distributions with disdain.  As
upstreams, we just drop our code off in repositories.  As downstreams,
we seem to pick up the packages that we want and scurry back to our own
community.

As open source has grown over the past several years, so have the
complexities.  No one developer is able to get his mind around many
projects.  No one distribution is going to meet every users needs.

With this in mind, I have started the DerivativeTeam.  My goal is to
start collaborating with our derivatives in three areas: Bug handling,
patch pushing, and developing a code base that is easily customizable. 

1 Bug handling. Make our bug process as compatible as possible to ease
the flow of information back and forth. This includes both triaging and
automatic crash reports systems. 

2 Patch Pushing. Clean up our patch system so that the Ubuntu specific
bits can be identified and replaced with Derivative bits. Combine our
resources on the common bits so that we can develop good patches to push
upstream. 

3 Customizing. Insure that for the most part we are using the same code
base. There is no sense in all of us dragging around huge patch sets.
Instead we should take steps to insure that a derivatives value added
bits integrate closely with Ubuntu's base. 

My experience has been that large grandiose projects often fail.  Rather
then try to establish an Ubuntu wide policy.  I would like to identify
specific packages in Ubuntu that are well suited to collaboration and
start using them as test cases. 

1 https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DerivativeTeam

thanks
-- 
David Farning <dfarning at gmail.com>