How will the HURD ultimately be distributed? Is the idea to follow the Linux model (many distributions) or something more like the FreeBSD model (one distribution)?
There are obvious drawbacks and advantages to both. I'd like to suggest one method that I think might appease both schools of thought. (Which might be very obvious and everyone is going "duh", or not. I don't know) Offer the authoritive "official" HURD distribution which will include the entire GNU software base plus some added bonuses (seperate or included) and set up the official distribution site as www.gnu.org. The GNU OS could be offered from that site and all will be well. To achieve the level of diversity that Linux has, "Value Adding" could be highly encouraged. "GNU HURD for Mission Critical Servers" would be offered by someone other than GNU because it's more of a niche package as well as "GNU HURD for the Desktop!" or whatever. It is much too early to be discussing something like this but we should probably give thought to this soon before it starts to "fragment" like Linux did. I don't see Linux as really fragmented but it'd be nice if it had a central authority to handle any issues that might come up (like that libc5/libc6 thing). Developers probably want to be assured that if their software works on the "official" HURD distribution, it'll work on most distros that have added value. Not all, but probably more than if they were to test their software against a VA'd version of it. Oh, also. I'm pretty sure we want to discourage proprietary software running on the HURD (ie, linking to HURD's libraries). Will the HURD be 100% GPL or will some parts of it be Lesser GPL? What about software that can be considered free software but aren't specifically GPL? /* ---------- Michael Bacarella( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) | (212) 293-2620 Administration / Development / Support | http://nyct.net/ [ N e w Y o r k C o n n e c t . N E T ] | [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bringing New York The Internet Service It Deserves! --------- */
