I have hesitated in starting this page due to the sensitive nature of this relationship and the (May 2002) flame war on debian-devel and other mail lists. I believe that rather than guessing about relevant points of the discussion, the facts should be presented in a clear manner. I hope the facts presented here are accurate and precise enough to be helpful in the ongoing discussion. I have not read all messages in all relevant threads.

This is a work in progress. Please email me directly if you have comments or suggestions.

• Debian Advantages of Hurd guidelines Efforts

  • One of the first ports to non-Linux system along with *BSD and win32.
  • Official GNU system distribution.

• Debian Disadvantages of Hurd [porting/guidelines]] Efforts

  • Perceived zealous GNU and FSF promotion.

• Hurd Port Advantages of Debian

  • Glibc use.
  • Gcc use.
  • Debian reputation
  • Debian mirror infrastructure - ftp, both official and private. Includes bandwidth, hardware, maintenance efforts.
  • Debian www infrastructure - many languages supported, mirrors.
  • Debian developer machine infrastructure, many architectures, compile farm, buildd software.
  • Many Debian Developers maintaining software packages, bug reports, porting efforts.
  • Bug tracking system - BTS infrastructure
  • Package infrastructure architecture capabilities are improving. dpkg update in progress.

• Hurd Port Disadvantages of Debian

  • Possible DFSG vs. Free Software compatibility issues.
  • BTS Severity practices/use for unreleased ports issues.
  • Debian non-parallel development issues.
  • Architecture handling issues.
  • Linux base history with assumed Linux assumptions.
  • Possible incompatibility of third party standards compliance issues. i.e. LSB, FHS, GNU Coding Standards
  • Perceived zealous Debian promotion.

-- ?GrantBow - 22 May 2002