Interview with Debian Project Leader on “Sarge” Release

20 Comments

1. 2005-01-05 1:56 am

   Anonymous

   I think that thx to distro’s like ubuntu debian development is going mutch faster these days

   but I still find making debian packages more difficult then rpm packages maybe just me
2. 2005-01-05 2:11 am

   Anonymous

   Sarge has KDE 3.3.1 now in the nick of time. Freeze it and serve it cold

   The interview is rather disappointing. The usual questions and the usual answers. Would be nice to hear more behind the scenes stories.
3. 2005-01-05 2:12 am

   Anonymous

   You’re the first person I’ve seen who says RPM’s are better than DEB’s.

   Could you care to elaborate?

   Personally, I find that updating a system is much much easier using apt-get. I like not needing to pop in CD’s whenever there’s a version update. e.g. to upgrade from Fedora Core 2 to Fedora Core 3, you need the Core 3 CD’s.
4. 2005-01-05 2:29 am

   Anonymous

   Personally, I find that updating a system is much much easier using apt-get. I like not needing to pop in CD’s whenever there’s a version update. e.g. to upgrade from Fedora Core 2 to Fedora Core 3, you need the Core 3 CD’s.

   —-

   not the same old thing. apt-get is not comparable to rpm

   dpkg is. rpm the command is different from rpm the format.

   apt-get is comparable to apt4rpm, yum, update, yast, urpmi and so on

   yes. its possible to upgrade from fedora core 2 to fedora core 3 using yum
5. 2005-01-05 2:46 am

   Anonymous

   Yes, and apt-get is better than yum. Not because dpkg is much better than rpm (it is better, but not much, IMO), but because debian packages are written according to Debian Policy. Policy allows smoother upgrade, better co-ordination, etc.
6. 2005-01-05 2:46 am

   Anonymous

   >You’re the first person I’ve seen who says RPM’s are better than DEB’s.

   Actually he is talking about MAKING DEB’s.. if your a developer its much easier to make RPM’s than it is to make DEB’s.

   This is a pretty common complaint from developers.

   RPM’s require little more than a tar.gz file and a post install script.

   Making DEB’s is more involved. See here: http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-debpkg.html?c…
7. 2005-01-05 2:50 am

   Anonymous

   lupusBE is talking about *writing* DEB or RPM yourself: that is, writing *.spec and debian/{control,rules}. And I think you will agree with lupusBE if you have written both DEB and RPM package yourself.

   On the other hand, I think Debian works better precisely because it is harder to write DEB package — you need to keep more rules, take care of more details.
8. 2005-01-05 3:28 am

   Anonymous

   “Yes, and apt-get is better than yum”

   ya. keep mumbling. apt4rpm is virtually the same. so whats the point?

   ”

   On the other hand, I think Debian works better precisely because it is harder to write DEB package — you need to keep more rules, take care of more details.”

   thats a pure excuse. making it harder is unnecessary. policy and maintainer controls quality not the specification. the rpm spec provides as much details to create quality packages in an easier way.
9. 2005-01-05 4:39 am

   Anonymous

   I have to agree. Due to the enforced guidelines that surround making a DEB things tend to be put together more tightly.

   What I mean is, regardless or your skill level, if you manage to make a DEB following the guidelines you’re pretty much assured that the package will work, and work well. If you can’t figure out what is what, then chances are the newest of the new comers will not be able to produce a low quality package.

   Of course its not perfect and people get lazy, espeically with third party (unoffical) repositories.

   As for RPM’s, they may be easier to produce but since their really isn’t a per distro guide to producing the package, I find that there is a larger chance of producing faulty products. (not too sure if I made sense here… or if this is even the point I’m trying to make.)

   Then again I’m no expert so I’m the last person that should comment on this kind of thing.
10. 2005-01-05 5:27 am

    Anonymous

    Making DEB’s is more involved. See here: