Debconf 5 - Debian Derivatives and Custom Debian Distributions

This week your editor had the opportunity to travel to Helsinki, Finland for Debconf5 - thanks to the conference organizers for making this possible! The following article is based on a round table discussion on Debian Derivatives, lead by Benjamin "Mako" Hill, and a talk by Andreas Tille titled 'CDD - Custom Debian Distributions'.

Fledgling distribution projects often use a larger, more established project as a base for beginning development. These days Debian is the most popular distribution to use as a base for creating a new distribution. DistroWatch lists one hundred twenty-nine projects based on Debian. The LWN Distribution list identifies nearly one hundred distributions with roots in Debian.

Some are derived distributions, some are custom Debian distributions (CDDs). What's the difference? CDDs are part of the Debian Project and appear on Debian CDD website. Anything else can be considered a derivative.

Why is Debian such a popular starting point for CDDs and derivatives? One reason is the large number of packages in the Debian archive, something for almost every special interest. Why create a custom distribution? Most often it's to get a subset of packages to focus on a particular interest, or for a particular language. Whether it's a Chinese desktop or a live CD with a good selection of security tools, many people want more focus from their distribution.

Businesses don't want their employees to have access to thousands of packages but they may want non-free applications or customized configurations. Many users are overwhelmed by the size and complexity of Debian and they appreciate a smaller distribution focused to their interests. Specialized distributions provide preconfigured, easy to install (or live CD) versions of the software they want, without the clutter of thousands of packages that may not be well described, or not described in a language they understand.

Some packages might be highly inappropriate for some users; for example, the parents of the young children using Debian Jr. might not want them to have access to hot babe. Desktop users in China will appreciate a system where the default interface is in a language they can read. Someone who wants forensic tools on a live CD probably doesn't want a lot of games taking up space on that CD.

From Debian-Med to Skolelinux; Quantian to DeMuDi; smaller and more focused is better. One notable exception to that rule is Ubuntu, which aims for a wide variety of packages for a general purpose audience, though with fewer available platforms and above all a predictable release cycle.

Meanwhile, Debian continues to grow, with more packages available, more maintainers to care for those packages, and support for more architectures. As Debian grows so grows the number of users, the number of derivatives, and, so it seems, the time between releases. Debian's infrastructure is strained with the growth. Some fear a decline in the quality that has made Debian a first class distribution. Derived distributions take some of the strain off, but at a cost.

Even those working the CDD projects have complained that their patches don't always make it back into the main Debian archive. Certainly while there was a Sarge freeze there were times when patches couldn't be included immediately, but even without that constraint, a common complaint of derived distribution developers was that their patches were often ignored by the package maintainer. In other cases the derivative developers were fixing bugs, improving translations, adding features and making changes without a word to Debian or any other project. All in all there has been considerable duplication of effort between the many projects using Debian, and not nearly enough collaboration.

We have reported previously on Canonical's suite of tools designed to make collaboration easier. Progeny and HP are two more companies that will provide customized Debian distributions, and both companies have been working on tool kits to make that job easier. Better tool kits are only part of the solution.

Everyone agrees that there needs to be better communications between Debian developers and the developers of Debian derivatives. There needs to be better documentation of what changes are made and why these changes were deemed necessary. Generally there needs to be better collaboration between Debian and its offshoots. The Debian Derivers Council has been formed to help with communications and better collaboration. We look forward to seeing some positive results from the various tool kits and the actions of the Council.

This is Rebecca Sobol in Helsinki, Finland.

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