Subject: Debian 2.0 release requirements
From: Christian Schwarz <[email-masked]>
To: Debian Development <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 1998 23:57:07 +0100 (CET)

Hi folks!

[This is the 2nd mail concerning the new Release Roadmap. I suggest that
you read the mail with subject "Debian Release Roadmap" first.]

First step towards a stable Debian 2.0 release in time is to have a
consensus about the release requirements. (Note, that I changed the term
"goal" into "requirements".) We had a discussion about this on
debian-private in the last days, so the list included below has already
gone through some discussion.

After we have a consensus about the requirements, we'll start defining
"work packages" and "action items" that have to be performed to achieve
the release requirements. Depending on how quickly the tasks are done,
we'll define dead-lines for the code-freeze and release. 

(I know, everyone is intrested in having some real dates now. So I'll make
the mistake and give you one :) I expect to have the code freeze done in
Feb 98. I hope I'm not too wrong with this estimate :-)

Now back to the list of requirements: The major changes between Brian's
last posting (around Sep 97) are:

  - postponed implementation of PAM to some future release
  - deity is not expected to be ready for 2.0, so we'll leave this for 2.1
    (Though I hope I'm totally wrong and we'll get it into 2.0 :-)
  - some packages in 2.0 will be released with "overdue" bugs
  - I'm not sure if the alpha and sparc ports are ready until 2.0
  - The goal of using "cfgtool" has been dropped. Instead of that, 2.1
    will be based on "choas", hopefully.

The current list of release requirements is included below and also
available online at

http://fatman.mathematik.tu-muenchen.de/~schwarz/debian-roadmap/hamm/requirements.html

I've done my best to include some "rationale" for every requirement. It
looks like it turned into an advertisment for Debian 2.0--but hey, this
isn't too bad either! Perhaps we can copy this into the release
announcement later :-)

It would be good if some developers could check if I missed something or
included a goal which has been decided to be dropped. Furthermore, I would
be very thankful about a verification of the "rationales". (I hope they
are at least partially correct :-) 

_Any_ feedback is welcomed. Please tell me if you have other goals which
should be included in the list or which goals show be dropped/modified
etc. (The corresponding list for 2.1 will be set up shortly.) After we
have a consensus about the list of requirements, we can start collecting
the list of action items, etc.

Thanks,

Chris

P.S: After having worked a few hours on collecting the release goals and
rationales, I really feel that "hamm" will be the best thing we ever had!
Keep up the good work! 

--------cut-here--------

                 Debian GNU/Linux 2.0 Release Requirements

               Last changed on Wed, 7 Jan 1998 18:01:58 +0100

Below you'll find a list of release requirements of Debian GNU/Linux 2.0,
SPI's popular Linux distribution.

All requirements have been discussed and ratified by the Debian developers.
Please contact our mailing list if you have questions.

Note, that this list should not be confused with a to-do list. Some items on
the list may already be implemented (for example, the logo).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

All packages compiled against glibc 2.0 (libc6)

     The glibc 2.0 (libc6) is the successor of libc5. While libc5 was
     only available for Linux, libc6 is also available for other UNIX
     systems and for other architectures than i386. This will
     eventually allow binaries compiled for Linux to run on other glibc
     based systems on the same architecture (for example, GNU HURD) and
     will simplify Debian ports to other architectures a lot.

     While libc6 will be the default C library of Debian 2.0, all tools
     necessary to build and develop libc5-based software will still be
     available.

Support of more architectures

     Debian 2.0 will fully support the i386 and m68k architectures.

     Several other architectures (alpha, sparc, powerpc) will
     eventually be supported, too.

All packages comply with the Debian Free Software Guidelines

     The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) (part of Debian's
     Social Contract) is Debian's definition of free software.

     Every piece of software included in the Debian GNU/Linux
     distribution has to comply with these rules. This grants the user
     a maximum of freedom, as all packages will be provided with the
     complete source code, will be freely usable, modifiable,
     redistributable, and derived works will be allowed.

New installation utility based on package pre-selections

     Debian 2.0 will contain over 1000 packages! To simplify
     installation, a new installation program will allow to choose
     between several predefined `default installations,' for example,
     Internet server, X11 desktop, or router/firewall host.

     Since this new installation utility will be based on top of the
     existing package management tools, experienced users can still
     make installations on a per-package basis to get maximum
     flexibility.

Official Debian Logo

     The Debian GNU/Linux distribution needs a logo which can be
     included on web pages, CD covers, books, etc. The logo should be
     easily recognizable, unique, scalable, printable in b/w, etc.

     You can check out the Debian Logo Pages for more details.

Compliance to Debian Policy

     The Debian Policy Manual contains detailed rules how the packages
     should be designed to form a high quality distribution.

     All packages included in the Debian distribution will be updated
     to conform to the latest release of the Debian Policy. For
     example, this means all mail transport agents and clients use the
     same file locking mechanism, and all editors and pagers can be
     chosen as default when another programs calls an external editor
     or pager.

All web servers comply to Debian Web Standard

     The Debian Web Standard (included in the Debian Policy Manual)
     defines how the different web servers and clients included in the
     Debian distribution should be configured, to use a common
     filesystem layout and URL's.

Compliance to Standard for Console Messages

     The Standard for Console Messages (included in the Debian Policy
     Manual) specifies a common style for the startup and shutdown
     messages displayed on the console.

Support of Linux' new-style serial devices

     Linux currently supports two sets of serial devices, /dev/ttyS*
     and /dev/cua*. Since the use of the /dev/cua* devices does not
     have any advantages but may produce problems in some applications,
     all Debian packages are changed to use /dev/ttyS*.

     Click here for a rationale.

Support of 8-bit characters by default

     Some programs need special configuration options to work 8-bit
     clean. This is very important for a lot of non-English users who
     need to input umlauts, accented characters, etc. All Debian
     packages will be configured to be 8-bit clean by default.

     Click here for a rationale.

Shared libraries are linked dynamically against other libraries

     Linking shared libraries dynamically against other libraries
     simplifies the upgrading process and saves disk and memory space.
     All shared libraries included in the Debian distribution will be
     compiled that way.

     See H.J. Lu's `ELF: From The Programmer's Perspective' for
     details.

All programs register its MIME capabilities

     With the install-mime utility, Debian provides a unique interface
     for all packages to register programs to handle certain MIME
     types.

All applications registered to menus

     The menu package included in the Debian distribution stores
     information about which applications are installed on the system
     and provides this data for X11 window managers or text-based menu
     programs like pdmenu. With that, the user always has up-to-date
     application menus, no matter which packages are installed or which
     menu program is used.

All packages using the new package format

     With the support of several architectures, all Debian packages
     have to use the new package format, which will, for example, save
     space on our ftp mirrors by storing architecture independent
     packages only once.

No overlapping packages

     Debian's package management system (dpkg) has an option to refuse
     installation of a packages, if this would mean to overwrite
     another package's files. To be able to activate this option by
     default, all package overlaps will be resolved.

All binaries in ELF format (no a.out binaries)

     Though, ELF has been Debian's default binary format for few
     releases now, a.out development packages have still been provided.
     As a.out binaries have become rare lately, the development tools
     for this binary format has been dropped.

     However, run-time support for a.out binaries is still available.

 -------------
 Please send all comments, critics,
 and suggestions about this web page
 to Christian Schwarz or to the
 Debian Development mailing list.

--          _,,     Christian Schwarz
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