To Fork or Not To Fork

[poofyhairguy]

Neat write up about forking from an important person in the Ubuntu world.

Opinion on Ubuntu and Debian:


I don't think Ubuntu is a "fork" of Debian, at least not in the traditional sense. A fork suggests that at some point we go our separate way from Debian and then occasionally merge in changes as we carry on down our own path.

http://mako.cc/writing/to_fork_or_not_to_fork.html

[SKLP]

Neat write up about forking from an important person in the Ubuntu world.

Opinion on Ubuntu and Debian:



http://mako.cc/writing/to_fork_or_not_to_fork.htmlInteresting

[newbie2]

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1845318,00.asp

[poofyhairguy]

Is there a demand for Ubuntu to fork?

http://www.apreche.net/blog/computing/zealot-multimedia.comments

The person who wrote this doesn't get how legalities work (or why Mark cares about such things), but I too have thought "If it gets big enough, with someone fork Ubuntu and distribute unfree copies in areas where the laws do not prevent this thing?"

I hope that instead we can find new solutions to avoid a fork, but this makes me wonder- is a fork a bad thing always? The Xorg fork was cool. And if this is right, it might not even be considered a fork. Interesting stuff. Makes me ponder.

[a-nubi-s]

Ubuntu isn't a fork, it's a spoon - a spoonful of the good stuff in Debian without the hassle. If someone wants a spoonful of Ubuntu on a different plate with added bits that's their call.

[agger]

Is there a demand for Ubuntu to fork?

http://www.apreche.net/blog/computing/zealot-multimedia.comments

The person who wrote this doesn't get how legalities work (or why Mark cares about such things), but I too have thought "If it gets big enough, with someone fork Ubuntu and distribute unfree copies in areas where the laws do not prevent this thing?"


I can definitely understand what the guy's saying, anyway - I also thought it was a hassle having to install libdvdcss, codecs for various multimedia formats, etc.

If I were a hardware vendor selling preinstalled Ubuntu I might consider making my own install + recovery CD which did install all the multimedia things (assuming I was in a country where this is legal, of course).

But for most users, I think the Ubuntu Guide (www.ubuntuguide.org) should solve all these problems: Complete instructions and a downloadable CD.

One might even make a GUI script in Python or something which gave one the option to install everything in the Ubuntu Guide complete with checkboxes (hey, stop looking at me, everybody :-)).

[wmcbrine]

The Xorg fork was cool. And if this is right, it might not even be considered a fork.
The X saga is really convoluted... but to make a long story short: XFree86 was, in a sense, the fork (long ago). It was Free when the "official" X Consortium version of X wasn't; now, the situation is reversed. But of course that's a gross oversimplification.