Assesment

Assesment

Imagine if every distribution sourced a single upstream version. First, each operating system will package the software (differently, that is- RPM, TAR.GZ, DEB, etc) with their patches that work with their operating system. They'll apply their branding, and such. At this point, it's not the same as upstream. It's already different. So, where do the end users go for support? If they go upstream, it might just be a packaging issue, perhaps a conflict with another package. If they go to the package maintainer, then we're back to square one, where no one benefits from collaboration.

I think you're trying to make a black-and-white distinction out of something that's actually a continuum. Making packages more similar to upstream may still improve the opportunities for collaboration between distributions even if it doesn't eliminate *every* distro-specific issue.

Sure, you probably can't eliminate distro-specific package maintainers entirely, but you may be able to simplify their job significantly: for example, if they find a bug in their package, and report it upstream, there may be a greater chance that their report matches a report from another distro, and hence that work done on one benefits both.