Ubuntu compatibility with Debian?

Vincenzo Di Massa hawk78_it at yahoo.it
Sun May 8 22:24:19 UTC 2005


I would not be so worried:
since debian and ubuntu use the smae packaging tools you can *VERY* easily 
rebuild a DebIan package into an Ubuntu package.

The debian/ubuntu packaging system allows you to:

$ apt-get source <pkg-name>  # Download the package sourcecode
$ cd <pkg-name-version>
$ edit debian/control    # Edit the dependencies in this file
$ apt-get build-dep <pkg-name>  # Download the build-dependencies
$ debuild      # Build it
$ dpkg -i ../<pkg-name-version>.deb   # Install it

This is very quick, intuitive and gives you the option to rebuild the packages 
the way you like best (just edit debian/rules if you want to change compile 
options). Using yada you can package previuosly unpackaged software in a very 
similar, quick way.

If you use a not-beer-free distro you loose the freedom to modify a package 
compile options/dependencies. 

Alle 03:47, domenica 08 maggio 2005, Stephen R Laniel ha scritto:
> On Sat, May 07, 2005 at 09:35:37PM -0400, David Teague wrote:
> > How compatible is Ubuntu with Debian Stable, Testing,
> > Unstable, and Experimental? If I choose some package
> > from say Unstable and install it in Hoary, am I asking for
> > difficulty?
>
> Yes. I can't give any good background reasons for this, but
> in my experience installing Debian packages under Ubuntu is
> just a recipe for trouble.
>
> Part of the trouble is that Debian packages are looking for
> Debian dependencies. Deb packages might have version 2.12,
> and the corresponding Ubu package is called 2.12ubuntu. The
> Debian package coughs and says, "Wait a second: we need
> 2.12, and all you have is 2.12ubuntu." So you end up, if you
> want the package, doing
> 'dpkg --ignore-depends=[packageName]'. What a mess. I avoid
> installing Deb packages under Ubu at all costs.
>
> > At least one person suggested that Ubuntu's changes
> > almost amount to "a fork in Debian development." I
> > believe that is an exaggeration. Please remark on any
> > features or design decisions of Ubuntu that might have
> > been a basis for such a remark.
>
> The most public comments along those lines were Ian
> Murdock's (the 'ian' in 'Debian') on his blog. See here
> generally:
> http://google.com/search?q=ubuntu+site%3Aianmurdock.com
>
> and here specifically:
> http://ianmurdock.com/archives/000244.html
> http://ianmurdock.com/archives/000258.html
>
> Mark Shuttleworth hasn't yet responded, as far as I know. I
> don't know what the latest is on Ian's suggestions.
>
> --
> Stephen R. Laniel
> steve at laniels.org
> +(617) 308-5571
> http://laniels.org/
> PGP key: http://laniels.org/slaniel.key




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