Debian 4.0 "etch"

Current and future issues

My involvement in Debian

• Strong interest in workflow issues
• Strong interest in security issues
• PR, and proxy between industry and Debian
• Mentor
• Bug reporter #2
• General troublemaker

Overview

• A brief introduction to Debian
• Status of Debian 4.0 "etch"
• A bit on current Debian
• Relationship with Ubuntu

What is Debian?

• An open-source project
  • with a unique and original philosophy
  • represented and enacted by a huge community
  • producing a (set of) operating system(s)

The Debian philosophy

Produce a free operating system of high quality with flexibility in mind, using an open development model inspired by Linux.

• 100% free
• Universal and open
• High-quality integration, policy-based
• Flexibility and security
• The admin stays in control

The Debian community

• Just under 1'100 developers (~50% active), globally spaced

  

(source: http://www.debian.org/devel/developers.loc)

• An estimated 2'000 contributors

Traits of the community

• Many developers are high-profile, experienced administrators
• Very helpful and knowledgeable, if approached right
• Often considered arrogant and elitist
• Rough, cowboy-ish, but the Debian Women project had very good influence
• Meritocratic
• High trust level between developers
• Frequent personal meetings between developers

The Debian project

• Among the largest open-source projects
• Independent, volunteer-driven
• Daily business mainly on over 500 mailing lists and IRC
• One yearly conference (Debconf) and several mini conferences
• Booth presence on all major computer-related fairs and conferences
• SPI: US-based legal chaperone and assets management, no decision powers

The Debian operating system(s)

• Flagship: Debian GNU/Linux
  • Linux kernel
  • GNU userland applications
  • Debian system administration, helpers, concepts, integration
• Also available, though less popular/developed
  • Debian GNU/Hurd
  • Debian GNU/NetBSD
  • Debian GNU/kFreeBSD

Debian GNU/Linux

• Support for 12 hardware architectures:
  i386, amd64, sparc, alpha, powerpc, ia64, arm, mips/+el, m68k, s390, hppa
  (more than any other operating system)
• 10'000 software packages
  (source packages, 19'000 binary packages)
• More than 100 derivative distributions
  (e.g. Knoppix, Ubuntu, Linspire, Kanotix, MEPIS, Libranet, …)

APT + dpkg

• The "Advanced Package Tool":
  • Automatic package acquisition
  • Automatic dependency handling
  • Package integrity verification
• dpkg, the Debian package manager:
  • Robust
  • Strictly enacts the Debian policy
    • Configuration files
    • Dependencies and conflicts
    • File ownership

Our users

Widely used, for example by

• the administration of the cities of Munich, Germany, and Vienna, Austria
• the Ministry of Public Administration, Spain
• several large universities, including the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
• HP and IBM both offer Debian support (IBM/Lenovo inofficially)

Gadgets

• Debian powers numerous embedded devices: routers, firewalls

• Debian is used on devices of the latest handheld trend:

  • Nokia 770

    

  • ROAD S101

    

Overview

• A brief introduction to Debian

• Status of Debian 4.0 "etch"

• A bit on current Debian
• Relationship with Ubuntu

Debian releases

• Debian "stable" is known to be rock-solid and outdated:

• Current release: Debian 3.1r2 "sarge"
  released 6 June 2005, revised 19 April 2006
• Named after toy story characters

• Planned for 4 December 2006: Debian 4.0 "etch"

Debian "etch" release goals

• GCC 4.1 transition
• new Python framework
• LSB 3.1 compatibility
• Improved installer
  • graphical interface
  • support for encrypted partitions
• Kernel 2.6.17 or even 2.6.18
• Pet goals:
  • SELinux support
  • pervasive IPv6 support
  • pervasive LFS (large files) support

Debian stable

• Rock solid

"Look, this is Debian. They don't release things until you have to fire rockets at the thing to stop it from working." (Slashdot quote)

• Outdated

"Debian releases are out of date the minute they are published" (common prejudice)

Release process

• unstable - testing - stable
  • Current stable: sarge, current testing: etch, unstable: sid
  • Next stable: etch, next testing: etch+1, unstable: sid
• Long freeze process due to complexity
  • Five categories: essential, required, standard, optional, extra
  • Frozen one after the other, then stabilisation period

The package cycle

RC bugs

• Release-critical bugs (RC bugs) prevent a package from entering stable
• This is what makes Debian be Debian
• Packages with RC bugs are either fixed or removed
• Exceptions are possible on a case-by-case basis (etch-ignore)

Current status

From: http://bugs.debian.org/release-critical/

(Not entirely accurate because does not respect version tracking)

Current schedule

• We are a bit behind schedule
  • Base system was frozen on time
  • General freeze planned for 18 October 2006
• Several bug squashing parties coming up:
  • Always on IRC: #debian-bugs
  • 8-10 September: Zurich, Vienna
  • 11-13 October: Zurich, Dijon
• Target release date still unchanged: 4 December 2006

Current problems

• Python transition
• AMD64 not 100% integrated yet
• DFSG vs. GFDL
• Non-free firmware
• Secure APT

What can you do to help?

Participate in bug squashing parties!
(or just squash bugs whenever you can)

• Many bugs are trivial to resolve but need time
• Live assistance available via IRC and on mailing lists:
  • #debian-bugs on irc.debian.org
  • debian-devel@lists.debian.org
  • http://wiki.debian.org/BSPMarathon

Overview

• A brief introduction to Debian
• Status of Debian 4.0 "etch"

• A bit on current Debian

• Relationship with Ubuntu

Debian's strategy

Disclaimer: these are not an official statements!

• Release cycle length, "etch+1"
• Architecture support, universality
• Quality assurance

Open issues

• Licencing wars: GFDL, GPLv3, CC
• Packages built on untrusted machines
• Bottlenecks in the infrastructure and delays
• Package maintenance, patch tracking, derivatives
• Size of the developer base

Overview

• A brief introduction to Debian
• Status of Debian 4.0 "etch"
• A bit on current Debian

• Relationship with Ubuntu

Ubuntu releases

• Ubuntu snapshots Debian unstable
• Possible synchronisation at a later point in time
• A new release is the merge of Ubuntu's previous changes into a new snapshot

(graphic by Scott James Remnant)

Ubuntu vs. Debian on the desktop

• Ubuntu is synchronised with Gnome, cutting edge applications
• Debian unstable/testing usually a little behind, but caught up or even overtook by the time Ubuntu is released.
• A recent study found Debian to be more up to date (but the study is debated).
• More user-friendly configuration tools, better desktop integration
• Limited to Gnome, plus separate Kubuntu and Xubuntu efforts
• Ubuntu core is of high quality, universe varies greatly

Ubuntu vs. Debian on the server

• Ubuntu server provides "wizards" and allegedly long-time support
• New product, remains to be seen
• Debian "stable" is stable:
  • functional stability: feature set of individual packages
  • run-time stability: software has been well tested
  • archive stability: no dependency changes
• Administrators do not want to upgrade ("never touch a running system")
  • Long-time oldstable support, extendable (c.f. "potato")

Relationship with Ubuntu

• Divergance
• Gripes from the side of Debian: jealousy, visibility, giving back
• Advantages, benefits: greatly facilitated transitions, complex packages
• Effect of Ubuntu on
  • core packages, transitions
  • release cycle length
  • user base
  • developer base
• Existing integration efforts:
  • Utnubu
  • DCT

My Ph.D. research

Method diffusion in large open source projects

• Debian processes somewhat antiquated, compare with the agility of e.g. Plone
• Volunteers don't like to be told what to do
• Methods exist to improve asynchronous global collaboration
• How do you make sure people adopt these?

Finalement …

Thank you for your attention!

Martin F. Krafft <madduck@debian.org>

• http://people.debian.org/~madduck/
• http://martin-krafft.net/phd/

Licence

These slides, their design, and the content are © Martin F. Krafft and released under the terms of the CC by-nc-sa 2.5 licence.

reStructuredText sources: slides.rst and ui/debian/*.

Slides based on the S5 presentation system.