Why isn't Ubuntu a part of the DCC?

[GreatBunzinni]

I've just heard about the Debian Common Core (http://www.dccalliance.org/) alliance and It seems that all the major debian-derived distros are joining in and contributing. Well... all except Ubuntu.

What is the reason for ubuntu not joining the DCC alliance?

[matthew]

This is an appropriate question that has been discussed at length in several threads. The best thus far has been in this one: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=58950

Take a look and feel free to search for some of the other threads as well. There has been some good interaction on this issue in these forums.

[az]

They have different goals.

Many people mistake the DCCA to be representative of debian. There was some ojbection (by Debian) to the use of the word "debian" by the DCCA. This is a trademark issue.

What is more healthy? Ubuntu's contribution to debian or the DCCA's?

[poofyhairguy]

The biggest reason Ubuntu does not consider joining the DCCA because part of the purpose of that group is to keep things compatible with Debian Sarge. The group intends to rally around the newly released Debian stable and remain compatible with it. Ubuntu cannot and will not do this, because Ubuntu uses packages from Sid to form its distro.

I quote a member of the Ubuntu's Community Council governance board:

"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. Our model is quite different; every six months we take a snapshot of Debian's unstable distribution, apply any outstanding patches from our last release to it and spend a couple of months testing and bug-fixing it."

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

Therefore Ubuntu could not even join the DCCA even if it wanted to, because using Sarge (even testing) as a base instead of Sid would break the development model. Ubuntu will stay as compatible with Sarge as Sid does, maybe less.

Have a nice day.

I'm going to lock this thread because we have another like it, please post here if you want to ask more questions:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=58950