I'm pleased at the discussion this thread has generated. Thanks to everyone who has participated.
As a next step, I've created a mailing list where we can continue the discussion ([EMAIL PROTECTED], http://lists.progeny.com/listinfo/lsb-workers/). I'm out of town all day today, but I'll go through this thread again tonight and post a summary of the issues that came up sometime tomorrow. (I also have several messages flagged for follow-up that I'll get to then as well.) I'd also like to start doing some experimentation too. The key is to build both .debs and RPMs from a single source package, to make the methodology and mechanism completely transparent (i.e., the binary packages aren't just "take it or leave it" and can be rebuilt from source and patched if necessary, though at the risk of potentially losing certifications), and to start working through some of the compatibility layer issues I've already brought up (i.e., file system and package namespace differences) to see how big the task of compatibility really is in practice. As a start, I've asked one of the Progeny folks to experiment with building RPMs from Debian source. Once we have a minimal set of RPMs built from Debian source, we can compare the result with some RPM-based distros to begin exploring where the differences are. I expect we'll want to do the same thing from the other direction (building .debs from SRPMs), and I'll suggest to one of the RPM-based members that they being exploring that. This will give us a better idea of the true issues involved, and combined with more philosophical differences (e.g., the obstacles to a common kernel as regards proprietary firmware), will make the next steps much clearer from here. I'd strongly invite everyone with an interest in this issue to subscribe to the mailing list and participate. -- Ian Murdock 317-578-8882 (office) http://www.progeny.com/ http://ianmurdock.com/ "All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible." -T.E. Lawrence
