Sam Varghese
Friday, 15 September 2006 00:45
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
It's considered a good thing that a free software project never really has to die - if the person who started it gives up, another can always take the code and run with it.
However at times the business of basing one project on an existing one does tend to cause some friction. And this is more so when the projects are as visible and high-profile as Debian GNU/Linux and Ubuntu.
Debian is a free software project that began in 1993 - it has its own guidelines, a social contract, and puts out a high-quality distribution. As the developers are all volunteers, there is no fixed timeline for releases. While several other Linux distributions have used Debian as their base, none has gained so much prominence as Ubuntu, a project that began in 2004 and is now arguably the most popular among beginners and intermediate-level users.
The Ubuntu developers are all paid for their work. Some of them are former Debian developers; there are some who contribute to both distributions. The Ubuntu project is owned by Mark Shuttleworth, a former Debian developer who made his pile by founding Thawte, a company which provided digital certificates and internet privacy. He sold the company to VeriSign in 1999.
Ubuntu is based on the unstable branch of Debian; one of its advantages has been that with paid developers, it has been able to promise and put out a release every six months. Shuttleworth has made no secret about the fact that while Ubuntu will be free, the company behind it, Canonical, will provide support at a cost. By contrast, Debian's release schedule is based on the principle that something will be released when it is ready; the last release, Sarge, came out in mid-2005, nearly 3-1/2 years after the previous release.
Debian's decision-making is done with all developers contributing if they wish; in the case of Ubuntu, Shuttleworth is the final authority when sticking points arise. At times, seemingly pointless flamewars erupt on Debian mailing lists and go on for days.
