DCCA - Any changes for Arch?

aikidoist72 · 2005-09-06 04:18:55

I have read been reading about the Debian Core Components Alliance - and must say I am intrugued! I like the sound of a common base to build from as long as the core is flexible and expandable to meet future needs.

I am still fairly new into the Open Source world. I can understand the implications of the DCCA to the corporate world in the future. This sort of alliance has brought some questions to mind that I hope somebody with more knowledge/understanding of this agreement could demystify for me

My questions areW

ill this affect Arch users in the future?

If Debian becomes the future MS competitor, will the linux distro's that have a different base setup suffer in the future?

If programmers have a common base to work from, development would flourish with those disto's who have adopted this base. Would smaller distro's may be left in the "development" cold?

I am not sure if my understanding of this is correct, and please correct me if I am wrong. Would Arch need to adopt to some common core in the future to be compatible to what will be main stream development?

I do believe that Archlinux will be a major player in the future. Would it be as simple as downloading a "Linux Base System" package that standardizes linux distro's in the future?

Cheers

stavrosg · 2005-09-06 11:31:44

My opinion is that there is room for everyone.
This common "core" makes sence mainly for those who want to distribute binary only versions of their software.
Those who do it already target only some commercial vendor like Red Hat or SuSE (and maybe Debian Stable, but I haven't heard anyone yet) anyway, and this is unlikely to change in the future.

So it will not make any difference on Arch anyway.

-S.

leeghoofd · 2005-09-06 13:14:55

In a lot of distributions (arch included) in a tree there is only one version of a program/lib exept if there is a major api change.

As far as I understand the goal of the dcca is to tell what programs/libs are available and what version of them are currently in the tree. So that programmers do know on what programs/libs they can build their app. It will be based on the stable tree of debian which means that it will be fairly old.

I think this will not be negative for arch except that in very rare occasions it can be possible that a app is based on a older program/lib than what is in the current tree. If that app is opensource it could be patched to run with the newer programs/libs, if it's closed source arch could provide different versions of the depending programs/libs so that it works.

Cheers,
David

aikidoist72 · 2005-09-06 22:31:13

Thanks Guys

This makes more sense now. Although a standardized base is agreed upon, it does not mean that packages that are developed can not be adapted. Basically status quo!

Cheers

butters · 2005-09-11 07:00:43

None of the big ISVs are rushing out to certify their applications on Archlinux, so it doesn't matter. The DCCA is primarily an overhead necessitated by the ISV demand to know exactly what to install to certify their applications. The rest of the hoopla (making it easier for developers and encouraging binary compatibility, etc.) is just spin to make it palatable for the FOSS community.

We already have the LSB: it dictates what library interfaces and global variables are exposed to applications, so anyone can make a compatible binary package. The DCCA is a superset of the LSB that goes further in defining the actual packages that are supposed to be there, so that it takes the guess work out of installing an LSB environment.

aikidoist72 · 2005-09-11 07:28:39

Hi Butters - nice explanation - Thank You!!

Arch Linux

#1 2005-09-06 04:18:55

DCCA - Any changes for Arch?

#2 2005-09-06 11:31:44

Re: DCCA - Any changes for Arch?

#3 2005-09-06 13:14:55

Re: DCCA - Any changes for Arch?

#4 2005-09-06 22:31:13

Re: DCCA - Any changes for Arch?

#5 2005-09-11 07:00:43

Re: DCCA - Any changes for Arch?

#6 2005-09-11 07:28:39

Re: DCCA - Any changes for Arch?

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