Forking (was Ubuntu Under Attack)

[Vram]

On Wed, 2005-12-21 at 09:30 +0000, Old Rocker wrote:
> Since I started this thread, a number of people have contacted me off 
> list and basically asked:
> 
> "Does it matter if Ubuntu/Kubuntu is a fork of Debian?" or "What do you 
> mean by a fork anyway?"
> 
> As most people have probably realised, it matters to me and I hope it 
> matters to the whole of our community.  The best explanation I have 
> been able to find is in the book "Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source 
> Revolution" by Glyn Moody.  Although published first in 2001, the book 
> still stands up today.  Here is the quote:
> 
> "Large-scale forking is generally regarded as a kind of fratricidal 
> civil war, the worst thing that can happen to a hacker community and to 
> be avoided at all costs.  Forking is quite different from the 
> ideological differences that exist between the original free software 
> movement and the newer open source: it is not only possible but common 
> for people from different backgrounds to work together on a single 
> project.  In effect, there may be a rainbow of ideologies in a given 
> project.  A fork, however, is an either/or matter, and until those two 
> camps can effect a coming together, a process called "healing the 
> fork", the divergence between them is likely to grow and become ever 
> more unbridgeable."
> 
> (Here the term "hacker" is used in its original form as a person who can 
> hack together some code, rather than the more pejorative description of 
> "cracker" which in fact people who break code, write viruses, etc. 
> should be given.)
> 
> In terms of Linux distributions, there are various Debian based distros 
> "out there", and most of these provide a better installer that the 
> Debian installer or specialist software.  These are part of the 
> "rainbow" to which Moody refers and add to the total benefit of the 
> whole Debian Project community.  However, Ubuntu/Kubuntu has its own 
> repositories and code base, which are close to Debian, but not 
> interchangeable with it.  Simply, you can't guarantee that Debian code 
> will run with Ubuntu, its has to be code recompiled for Ubuntu.  This 
> situation is similar to the way in which Gentoo sets up its binaries.  
> The difference is that Gentoo doesn't claim to be part of the Debian 
> community, whereas Ubuntu does.
> 
> A fork duplicates effort (why should two set of people be developing 
> essentially the same software?) and holds back development (we should 
> be working together, not apart).  It may be my opinion (as one poster 
> has said) that this situation is to be deprecated, but that opinion is 
> shared by many others in the open source community.
> 
> As yet, I don't think Ubuntu/Kubuntu is a fork, just a difference of 
> ideology.  Ubuntu developers work with others in the Debian community 
> it is true, but the vibes coming out of what I've read and seen, is 
> that there is no close developing of software, and this worries me.  
> Far better if Ubuntu could use the software developed in the various 
> Debian repositories than going off on its own.
> 
> I like Ubuntu/Kubuntu.  Mark Shuttleworth has put his money where his 
> mouth is, and produced for we users, a one-disk distribution that has 
> based its philosophy around the sharing of software.  However, it has 
> the seeds of becoming a fork and with it the possibility of dividing 
> the whole Debian community.  That is the threat I see, and I am giving 
> warning.


I think you FAIL to see what is happening..

Ubuntu is doing a VERY good job at being a Debian sub clone...

Taking the best of Debian and making it their own in the BEST open
source fashion...

Enough Said...

Vram




> 
> Please could we have some word from the Ubuntu developers?
> -- 
> 
> Old Rocker
>