Ubuntu & Debian packages

Riku Nurkka riku.nurkka at iki.fi
Thu Sep 30 00:21:57 UTC 2004


Hello,

Mixing Debian & Ubuntu packages:

What's the the problem why mixing Ubuntu and Debian packages is not
recommended? If the problem is only related to this (from the FAQ):
"there will be some packages which have the same version number,
but are actually distinct", couldn't I reliably solve those problems
simply by editing apt preferences (give Ubuntu packages preference over
Debian packages - and maybe also use apt pinning if necessary)?

About i386/i586/etc. packages:

If Ubuntu won't recommend mixing Ubuntu packages with pure Debian
packages and Ubuntu will be that different from pure Debian, why not
then also consider compiling Ubuntu packages for a bit higher
architecture than plain i386? 

Yes, I know that the software speed benefits from CPU optimizations are
often hyped and overestimated... But as nobody's probably even going to
try to run Ubuntu on an old i486 - not to mention a i386 machine (too
slow for GNOME etc.) wouldn't it then make even sense to optimize the
Ubuntu packages for i586, or maybe even i686? 

It could be a good way to positively differentiate Ubuntu from the
multitude of other similar Debian-based distros - and quite probably to
gain much more popularity too.

One of the main points why many people complain that Debian is too old
for them is (besides of the relatively slow release cycle & old stable
packages dilemma) that the official Debian packages are only for i386
(whether i586/i686 optimization gives a significant speed benefit or
not) while all the other major distributions have their offcial packages
compiled (usually) at least for i586. 

Any thoughts on this?

Riku





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