On Wed, 2004-05-19 at 11:00, Steve Kemp wrote: > I'm not sure that I agree a custom distribution is needed in this > case. > > We already have something that is designed to pull in a large number > of packages arranged by functionality - tasksel.
This is not at all the need I had thought I had identified. Look over my "backup services live CD" idea again. That is an example of the sort of real user need I have. Maybe there are other people with the same or related needs. And maybe there is enough commonality between their needs to make an identifable "target user group" that would benefit from having a CDD made for them. The purpose of a CDD is not to provide a comprehensive list of alternatives to supply any particular functionality. The purpose is to assemble a subset of Debian that makes the lives of the target user base it addresses easier. (Sometimes that means giving them fewer choices -- shock, horror -- not more.) Since I am not volunteering to make this CDD, but am simply throwing out a discussion starter here, I have deliberately left out a description of what this CDD might look like, and indeed have been vague about which exact user base it would be targetted at. If I succeed in firing up someone's imagination sufficiently to get them going in this direction, I'll let them handle those questions. > When I saw this I thought if we were to extend tasksel to have a > list of server tasks and give it the ability to run a hook > program after the installation we'd be a long way there. > ... Again, we're back into implementation discussions[0]. Maybe yours is a good idea. I don't know. I'll let others judge. I'm merely trying to identify a "group of users with a common set of needs" as possible beneficiaries of a new CDD. So to rephrase my original point: is there a target user base here that would benefit from having a CDD made for them? Are there developers among us who would like to tackle the project? Ben [0] Not a bad thing, really, and I'm sure people will have lots to say in those subthreads of the parent post, but off-focus for my first post and this one. -- synrg at debian dot org
