Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Marc Haber
On Fri, Aug 25, 2006 at 04:45:31PM -0500, John Goerzen wrote:
 I think it's time we reopen the discussion on what stable means and what
 it should mean.
 
 To start with, [1] says that a package is only uploaded to stable when
 it meets one of these criteria:
 
  * it fixes a truly critical functionality problem
 
  * the package becomes uninstallable
 
  * a released architecture lacks the package

I would love to have the new package for stable eases future update
as this would allow to fix stable issues which would otherwise cause
future grief to fix. For example, a more allowing policy would allow
exim 3 to warn against new installations and in turn motivate people
to update to exim3 before they take the etch plunge.

 Examples of things that should happen in stable, but haven't been
 happening reliably:
 
  * Kernel updates with more broad hardware support
 
  * Infrastructure updates such as ClamAV and Spamassassin
 
  * Security and other important Firefox updates

I think we have volatile for this, allowing people to choose whether
they need absolute stability or new infrastructure.

Greetings
Marc

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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Fabio Tranchitella
Il giorno ven, 25/08/2006 alle 16.45 -0500, John Goerzen ha scritto:
  * Updates must undergo testing, ideally with peer review

This could be impossible if stable and testing distributions are
binary-incompatible (ie. using different versions of glibc), just like
sarge and etch are in this moment.

Anyway, I mostly agree with your proposal, even if some of the points
you raised can be achieved using volatile.

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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Martin Schulze
John Goerzen wrote:
 Hello,
 
 The Debian stable distribution has been a thorn in our side for a long
 time.  We tend to go a long time between releases, which means that
 stable grows less and less useful as time goes on.  We also have a
 strict policy on what is allowed into stable.
 
 This policy has many merits, especially for those running Debian on
 production servers.  On the other hand, it has many problems.  One is
 that current Debian stable can't be installed on many current systems
 due to weak SATA controller support.
 
 I think it's time we reopen the discussion on what stable means and what
 it should mean.
 
 To start with, [1] says that a package is only uploaded to stable when
 it meets one of these criteria:
 
  * it fixes a truly critical functionality problem
 
  * the package becomes uninstallable
 
  * a released architecture lacks the package
 
 I am mainly interested in #1.  I think we need to take a more expansive
 view of what constitutes a functionality problem, perhaps replacing
 truly critical with serious.
 
 Examples of things that should happen in stable, but haven't been
 happening reliably:
 
  * Kernel updates with more broad hardware support

This requires new kernel packages, new utilities and a new installer.
It a hell of an effort to get this done.  Just look at what it takes
to update these in stable with only security updates.

Expecting this to become easier with new kernel versions included is a
little bit off the reality.  Feel free to try to get a new kernel via
backports.org and watch how many other packages creep in.

It would be good, though, especially in order to have some support for
hardware that has entered the market after the last Debian release, if
there would be an outside repository for updated kernel and installer
packages.  However, nobody considered this important enough yet.
(Hint! Hint!)

  * Infrastructure updates such as ClamAV and Spamassassin

We already have this in form of the volatile archive.  That's exactly
what volatile is for and why it has been started.  For these packages
it works quite well.

  * Security and other important Firefox updates

I'm sure you only forgot that we do have security updates for Mozilla
and friends (thanks to the great work of Alexander Sack, can't say
that often enough).

Anyway, you want to see new versions, which is fine.  However, this
also requires new dependencies since newer versions tend to require
newer libraries.  Also there are a lot of translation and plugin
packages that would have to be updated as well - and the software
would behave differently.

That's nothing for a *stable* Debian release.  However, thanks to
nobse there is the backports repository which is perfectly suited for
such an effort.  Not sure if anybody bothered to backport Mozilla and
friends yet, though.  (I guess not.  Hint! Hint!)

 Now, we need also to make sure that stable stays stable, and should be
 introducing additional guidelines to accompany this:
 
  * No major architectural changes in packages (don't upgrade
spamassassin from v2 to v3, but it may be OK to introduce a new
spamassassin v3 package).  Or, no XF86 - XOrg transition,
but perhaps a new XF86 point release with more HW support could work

This should not happen *in* the stable distribution since it would
become a floating target instead.  The cases you mentioned have
already happened outside of the stable release, i.e. in the backports
archive, iirc.

  * Updates must undergo testing, ideally with peer review

For this we don't have the infrastructure with regards to stable, and
it's also not possible to update stable just again because we noticed
that Firefox creashes 50% of the time.  Backports is much easier to
handle for this and should be used.

  * Updates must be drop-in compatible with the released stable --
no config file incompatibilies or new debconf prompts, no new library
so versions or deps on libraries not in stable, etc.

This rejects packages like the kernel or Mozilla and friends already.

 It is important to maintain stable as stable for existing server
 installs, but still keep it useful for new deployments.  I think we can
 achieve the latter without compromising the former, in a little better
 way that we have done to date.

It's also important for desktop installations that shouldn't change
every other day.

Regards,

Joey

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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Martin Schulze
Marc Haber wrote:
  To start with, [1] says that a package is only uploaded to stable when
  it meets one of these criteria:
  
   * it fixes a truly critical functionality problem
  
   * the package becomes uninstallable
  
   * a released architecture lacks the package
 
 I would love to have the new package for stable eases future update
 as this would allow to fix stable issues which would otherwise cause
 future grief to fix. For example, a more allowing policy would allow
 exim 3 to warn against new installations and in turn motivate people
 to update to exim3 before they take the etch plunge.

Adding a warning *now* does not imply to *eases future update*.

Regards,

Joey

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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread John Goerzen
On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 08:43:53AM +0200, Martin Schulze wrote:
 John Goerzen wrote:
  Examples of things that should happen in stable, but haven't been
  happening reliably:
  
   * Kernel updates with more broad hardware support
 
 This requires new kernel packages, new utilities and a new installer.
 It a hell of an effort to get this done.  Just look at what it takes
 to update these in stable with only security updates.

New kernel packages, and a rebuilt install image, yes.  New utilities?
Which utilities?

The only one I'm aware of that breaks with newer kernels is udev, and
hasn't that been fixed for awhile now?

I've never had a problem taking a stable box and putting a nice shiny
new kernel on it.  Which utilities have to be updated here?

I'm not talking about something like 2.4 to 2.6, just point releases
within 2.6.

 It would be good, though, especially in order to have some support for
 hardware that has entered the market after the last Debian release, if
 there would be an outside repository for updated kernel and installer
 packages.  However, nobody considered this important enough yet.
 (Hint! Hint!)

Well, a repo for updated ISOs would be more useful to people, I
think.  But again, when somebody goes to debian.org to download
stable, they'll get something that doesn't work.

It would be better to, say, issue 3.0.1 with a newer kernel package.
This wouldn't even have to cause any impact at all to existing
installations.

   * Infrastructure updates such as ClamAV and Spamassassin
 
 We already have this in form of the volatile archive.  That's exactly
 what volatile is for and why it has been started.  For these packages
 it works quite well.

True, but it would be better to make it more official.  Plus, are you
going to stick X, PostgreSQL, and MySQL in volatile?

   * Security and other important Firefox updates
 
 I'm sure you only forgot that we do have security updates for Mozilla
 and friends (thanks to the great work of Alexander Sack, can't say
 that often enough).

Quite right, sorry.

 Anyway, you want to see new versions, which is fine.  However, this

No, that's not a biggie to me.

  Now, we need also to make sure that stable stays stable, and should be
  introducing additional guidelines to accompany this:
  
   * No major architectural changes in packages (don't upgrade
 spamassassin from v2 to v3, but it may be OK to introduce a new
 spamassassin v3 package).  Or, no XF86 - XOrg transition,
 but perhaps a new XF86 point release with more HW support could work
 
 This should not happen *in* the stable distribution since it would
 become a floating target instead.  The cases you mentioned have
 already happened outside of the stable release, i.e. in the backports
 archive, iirc.

Not the kernel, which is the most important and most troublesome
piece.  That part really needs to be supported directly at debian.org.

   * Updates must undergo testing, ideally with peer review
 
 For this we don't have the infrastructure with regards to stable, and
 it's also not possible to update stable just again because we noticed
 that Firefox creashes 50% of the time.  Backports is much easier to
 handle for this and should be used.

If this stays small-scale -- and it should -- this could be as simple
as having, say, 5 trusted developers' GPG signatures on a message
saying they have evaluated it against standard criteria and it passes.
Doesn't have to be a massive thing.

But you're right, we would absolutely want to make sure we get it
right.  It's a hurdle, but I wouldn't call it insurmountable.

   * Updates must be drop-in compatible with the released stable --
 no config file incompatibilies or new debconf prompts, no new library
 so versions or deps on libraries not in stable, etc.
 
 This rejects packages like the kernel or Mozilla and friends
 already.

Again, I am confused about why this would reject the kernel, since in
my experience, it *is* drop-in compatible.

  It is important to maintain stable as stable for existing server
  installs, but still keep it useful for new deployments.  I think we can
  achieve the latter without compromising the former, in a little better
  way that we have done to date.
 
 It's also important for desktop installations that shouldn't change
 every other day.

Indeed.

-- John


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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Alexander Wirt
Martin Schulze schrieb am Samstag, den 26. August 2006:

*snip* 
 That's nothing for a *stable* Debian release.  However, thanks to
 nobse there is the backports repository which is perfectly suited for
 such an effort.  Not sure if anybody bothered to backport Mozilla and
 friends yet, though.  (I guess not.  Hint! Hint!)
Hey, thats already there: 

http://backports.org/debian/pool/main/f/firefox/
http://backports.org/debian/pool/main/t/thunderbird/

But please read the instructions before:
http://backports.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=instructions
 
Alex



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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Sven Luther
On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 02:13:33AM -0500, John Goerzen wrote:
 On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 08:43:53AM +0200, Martin Schulze wrote:
  John Goerzen wrote:
   Examples of things that should happen in stable, but haven't been
   happening reliably:
   
* Kernel updates with more broad hardware support
  
  This requires new kernel packages, new utilities and a new installer.
  It a hell of an effort to get this done.  Just look at what it takes
  to update these in stable with only security updates.
 
 New kernel packages, and a rebuilt install image, yes.  New utilities?
 Which utilities?
 
 The only one I'm aware of that breaks with newer kernels is udev, and
 hasn't that been fixed for awhile now?
 
 I've never had a problem taking a stable box and putting a nice shiny
 new kernel on it.  Which utilities have to be updated here?
 
 I'm not talking about something like 2.4 to 2.6, just point releases
 within 2.6.

Well, the etch preparation time saw the switch to 2.6, the devfs removal and
the corresponding ramdisk generator troubles, as well as assorted udev
troubles.

The real problem, is that for seamless kernel upgrades, a lot of
infrastructure is needed, and this has been part of my plan (or private agenda
like Frans accused me of, altough there is nothing private about it, since i
claimed it high and strong since over a year now, and it is done not to
further my own benefit, but for the best of debian, the ease of the stable
security team and stable d-i upgrades, and situation likes this.

Anyway, the plan i was proposing since april 2005, shortly before the etch
release, called for an unified kernel package (which we attained in a
successfull way, culminating with the 2.6.14 release and its same-day upload),
as well as other yet to be implemented or currently under implementation
parts. It had :

  - a single kernel source package, building all the .debs for all arches, as
well as all the .udebs for d-i.

  - an infrastructure for out of tree modules, either incorporating them in
the same main kernel package like ubuntu has done, or a single out-of-tree
package like is under way, or a set of individual such out of tree
packages, but identified ones, and all using the same infrastructure.

It was trying to push for this one, which would make upgrading kernels on
kernel abi changes for security or upgrade issues seamless, but faced the very
strong and agressive oposition of the d-i team, who is now in a situation
where any changes in this respect cannot be accepted by them, for fear of
losing face and having to admit that i was right, so we are thus hosed in the
near future.

This plan needs to be complemented by cooperation with the other kernel
related tools, like udev, module-init-tools and such.

With all this in place, we could do kernel and d-i upgrades in a matter of
days, and it only would need tests for regressions in the kernel code itself,
or in the interface of those helper tools, but given the importance of those
kernels upgrades (a quick test, who really runs sarge kernels on sarge, and
not some self-built or backported ones ?), it would be fairly easy to find a
big enough tester set to validate those for later upgrades.

Friendly,

Sven Luther



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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Martin Schulze
John Goerzen wrote:
 On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 08:43:53AM +0200, Martin Schulze wrote:
  John Goerzen wrote:
   Examples of things that should happen in stable, but haven't been
   happening reliably:
   
* Kernel updates with more broad hardware support
  
  This requires new kernel packages, new utilities and a new installer.
  It a hell of an effort to get this done.  Just look at what it takes
  to update these in stable with only security updates.
 
 New kernel packages, and a rebuilt install image, yes.  New utilities?
 Which utilities?

I already forgot most of them again, but among the packages required were:

mkinitrd
kernel-package
debhelper
yard

Just try to get a more recent kernel from backports.org on a sarge
machine and you'll see.

 The only one I'm aware of that breaks with newer kernels is udev, and
 hasn't that been fixed for awhile now?

Oh, right.  udev as well.  I prayed for the machine to boot as it was
in a data center several km away from me.  *sweat*

 I'm not talking about something like 2.4 to 2.6, just point releases
 within 2.6.

I'm talking about 2.6.8 (sarge) to 2.6.15 (current kernel that time)

  It would be good, though, especially in order to have some support for
  hardware that has entered the market after the last Debian release, if
  there would be an outside repository for updated kernel and installer
  packages.  However, nobody considered this important enough yet.
  (Hint! Hint!)
 
 Well, a repo for updated ISOs would be more useful to people, I
 think.  But again, when somebody goes to debian.org to download
 stable, they'll get something that doesn't work.

That's something that could be done afterwards, but I agree, that
updated iso images, at least for the businesscard and network
installation would be great as well.

 It would be better to, say, issue 3.0.1 with a newer kernel package.
 This wouldn't even have to cause any impact at all to existing
 installations.

As I told you already, just look at the progress to get an updated 2.6.8
inclusive installer into the 3.1 stable release.  It's problematic
enough already, not to speak about a new kernel version and new tools
and modified installer code, and differntly behaving packages, and and and.

* Infrastructure updates such as ClamAV and Spamassassin
  
  We already have this in form of the volatile archive.  That's exactly
  what volatile is for and why it has been started.  For these packages
  it works quite well.
 
 True, but it would be better to make it more official.  Plus, are you
 going to stick X, PostgreSQL, and MySQL in volatile?

No, but into backports.org.

We're trying to get volatile more official, to be continued...

* Updates must undergo testing, ideally with peer review
  
  For this we don't have the infrastructure with regards to stable, and
  it's also not possible to update stable just again because we noticed
  that Firefox creashes 50% of the time.  Backports is much easier to
  handle for this and should be used.
 
 If this stays small-scale -- and it should -- this could be as simple
 as having, say, 5 trusted developers' GPG signatures on a message
 saying they have evaluated it against standard criteria and it passes.
 Doesn't have to be a massive thing.

That's not sufficient when new versions of software are included that
behave different, hence, break scripts, break users impression and the
like.  That will make Debian stable an unstable system.  This is not
what we should aim at.  Really.

 But you're right, we would absolutely want to make sure we get it
 right.  It's a hurdle, but I wouldn't call it insurmountable.

Such updates should be provided as an add-on like with the
backports.org archive.  Then users can decide if they want to try an
update and maybe become happy with it.

By the way, I've been told that a more recent Firefox is already
included in the backports archive.  Feel free to use it.

* Updates must be drop-in compatible with the released stable --
  no config file incompatibilies or new debconf prompts, no new library
  so versions or deps on libraries not in stable, etc.
  
  This rejects packages like the kernel or Mozilla and friends
  already.
 
 Again, I am confused about why this would reject the kernel, since in
 my experience, it *is* drop-in compatible.

Well... not at all.  It may require a more recent udev, more recent
hotplug, more recent mkinitrd, more recent $foo, old drivers that
formerly worked, may not work anymore, old firmware (sorry,
binary-only, non-free crap) that was used formerly may not work
anymore since a newer version may be required.  Devices may be named
differntly even without udev (think of two SCSI adapter whose order is
switched for whatever reason, this has happened already).

Regards,

Joey

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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Sven Luther
On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 09:57:37AM +0200, Martin Schulze wrote:
 John Goerzen wrote:
  On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 08:43:53AM +0200, Martin Schulze wrote:
   John Goerzen wrote:
Examples of things that should happen in stable, but haven't been
happening reliably:

 * Kernel updates with more broad hardware support
   
   This requires new kernel packages, new utilities and a new installer.
   It a hell of an effort to get this done.  Just look at what it takes
   to update these in stable with only security updates.
  
  New kernel packages, and a rebuilt install image, yes.  New utilities?
  Which utilities?
 
 I already forgot most of them again, but among the packages required were:
 
 mkinitrd

mkinitrd is dead :)

 kernel-package

well, one could consider kernel-package as part of the kernel package, really.

 debhelper

debhelper ???

 yard

yaird is its name.

 Just try to get a more recent kernel from backports.org on a sarge
 machine and you'll see.

Actually, apart from the udev issue, only a recompiled yaird is needed to run
the latest sid kernel on a sarge machine.

I am actually typing this, on a sarge/powerpc machine, where the latest sid
kernels was installed as is on a sarge system with only the rebuild yaird. 

Naturally, initramfs-tools and is huge dependency chain on world+dog is a
fully other matter.

  The only one I'm aware of that breaks with newer kernels is udev, and
  hasn't that been fixed for awhile now?
 
 Oh, right.  udev as well.  I prayed for the machine to boot as it was
 in a data center several km away from me.  *sweat*

Yes, we should get a backported udev with more stability going or something.
Udev is the real pain on this, and since initramfs-tools needs it ...

  I'm not talking about something like 2.4 to 2.6, just point releases
  within 2.6.
 
 I'm talking about 2.6.8 (sarge) to 2.6.15 (current kernel that time)

yeah, udev sucks, but apart from that it should be transparent.

Friendly,

Sven Luther


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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Martin Schulze
Sven Luther wrote:
  mkinitrd
 
 mkinitrd is dead :)

Whatever... :)

  debhelper
 
 debhelper ???

Didn't it creep in?  Maybe not.

  yard
 
 yaird is its name.

Oh well...

  Just try to get a more recent kernel from backports.org on a sarge
  machine and you'll see.
 
 Actually, apart from the udev issue, only a recompiled yaird is needed to run
 the latest sid kernel on a sarge machine.

Err... you'll have to be able to compile the kernel as well or you won't
be able to add security support to it, and that would be an even larger
nightmare.

 Naturally, initramfs-tools and is huge dependency chain on world+dog is a
 fully other matter.

Ah, maybe I meant this one instead of mkinitrd :)

Regards,

Joey

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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Marco d'Itri
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

I am mainly interested in #1.  I think we need to take a more expansive
view of what constitutes a functionality problem, perhaps replacing
truly critical with serious.
I fully agree. I do not consider volatile a solution.

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Marco


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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Michael Banck
On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 08:43:53AM +0200, Martin Schulze wrote:
 It would be good, though, especially in order to have some support for
 hardware that has entered the market after the last Debian release, if
 there would be an outside repository for updated kernel and installer
 packages.  However, nobody considered this important enough yet.
 (Hint! Hint!)

Kenshi MUTO provides some at http://kmuto.jp/debian/d-i/


cheers,

Michael


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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Kenshi Muto
At Sat, 26 Aug 2006 11:52:29 +0200,
Michael Banck wrote:
 On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 08:43:53AM +0200, Martin Schulze wrote:
  It would be good, though, especially in order to have some support for
  hardware that has entered the market after the last Debian release, if
  there would be an outside repository for updated kernel and installer
  packages.  However, nobody considered this important enough yet.
  (Hint! Hint!)
 
 Kenshi MUTO provides some at http://kmuto.jp/debian/d-i/

And when you see my SVN repository and sources,
you'll find how hard to use newer Debian kernel on current
Sarge installer, John.

If new kernel has perfect compatibilities with older kernel
(such as using devfs and mkinitrd), updates may be easier.
Even if so, I think applying new kernel will make a lot of
jobs for d-i team.

Thanks,
-- 
Kenshi Muto
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread John Goerzen
On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 09:03:12PM +0900, Kenshi Muto wrote:
 At Sat, 26 Aug 2006 11:52:29 +0200,
 Michael Banck wrote:
  On Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 08:43:53AM +0200, Martin Schulze wrote:
   It would be good, though, especially in order to have some support for
   hardware that has entered the market after the last Debian release, if
   there would be an outside repository for updated kernel and installer
   packages.  However, nobody considered this important enough yet.
   (Hint! Hint!)
  
  Kenshi MUTO provides some at http://kmuto.jp/debian/d-i/
 
 And when you see my SVN repository and sources,
 you'll find how hard to use newer Debian kernel on current
 Sarge installer, John.
 
 If new kernel has perfect compatibilities with older kernel
 (such as using devfs and mkinitrd), updates may be easier.
 Even if so, I think applying new kernel will make a lot of
 jobs for d-i team.

Again, maybe I'm missing something on mkinitrd, but I don't see that
as such an issue.  devfs, I can see that.

But I'm not trying to talk in this thread about how hard or easy it is
technically to build stuff for stable.  That level will change over
time.  (And if we really find it so much more difficult to build a
kernel for stable than other distros do, we need to examine that and
make needed improvements.  Maybe Joey Hess can comment on the
installer here.)

The question I'm trying to open up is first:

  Is it useful to update a kernel in stable?

And secondly:

  Is it possible to do it in a sane way, preserving stability?

And finally, if so, then we need to ask:

  How can we make it easy for everyone involved to do this?

-- John


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Re: Rethinking stable updates policy

2006-08-26 Thread Martin Schulze
John Goerzen wrote:
 But I'm not trying to talk in this thread about how hard or easy it is
 technically to build stuff for stable.  That level will change over
 time.  (And if we really find it so much more difficult to build a
 kernel for stable than other distros do, we need to examine that and
 make needed improvements.  Maybe Joey Hess can comment on the
 installer here.)
 
 The question I'm trying to open up is first:
 
   Is it useful to update a kernel in stable?

It is probably useful to provide updated kernel pacakges and installer
- but separate from Debian stable.

 And secondly:
 
   Is it possible to do it in a sane way, preserving stability?

Good question.  For sarge and = 2.6.15 I'd say no.

 And finally, if so, then we need to ask:
 
   How can we make it easy for everyone involved to do this?

Don't change the kernel too much, don't change kernel packaging
too much.  While we have influence on the second, we don't have
influence on the first.

Regards,

Joey

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Re: Proposal: The DFSG do not require source code for data, including firmware

2006-08-26 Thread David Weinehall
On Wed, Aug 23, 2006 at 05:38:07PM +1000, Anthony Towns wrote:
 On Wed, Aug 23, 2006 at 01:28:35AM -0500, Peter Samuelson wrote:
  [Steve Langasek]
   That's an interesting point.  Can you elaborate on how you see this
   being a loophole, in a sense that having the firmware on a ROM
   wouldn't also be?
  The day Debian begins to distribute ROM chips, or devices containing
  ROM chips, I will expect those chips to come with source code.  Until
  then, this is a red herring.
 
 Note that while Peter is currently in the n-m queue (on hold pending
 further response to TS checks apparently), he's not yet a developer,
 and his expectations shouldn't be inferred to be those of the developers
 as a whole.

Well, I hereby fully agree with Peter's expectations.  And I am a DD.
Please don't dismiss people just on grounds that they're not, yet, DD's.


Regards: David
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