[IAEP] SugarLabs mission (was Re: [Sugar-devel] activites known not to either work at all or not on certain platforms)

[Edward Cherlin]

On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 1:14 PM, Jonas Smedegaard <dr at jones.dk> wrote:
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> On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 12:06:44PM -0800, Edward Cherlin wrote:
>>We need some kind of organization now that we are in a matrix
>>situation. We have a multitude of .xo packages, and at least the
>>following platforms:
>>
>>o XO
>>o Fedora
>>o Debian
>>o Ubuntu
>>o Caixa Magica Linux (Venezuela)
>>o Mobilis with Linux on XSCALE processor (Brazil)
>>
>>In addition to regular packages for installation, we want a LiveCD and
>>SOAS for each one. That means that we need an automated build and QA
>>infrastructure for all of these cases, and a reporting database. We
>>are past the point where all-manual testing makes any sense.
>
> I recommend Sugarlabs to *not* try to act as sub-distributor for
> anything containing Sugar.
>
> 1) You are _upstream_ of Sugar.

Arthur Dent: True.
Lintilla: Yes?
Arthur: But not helpful.

BBC Radio version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

> 2) You might(!) want to be distributor too, for a _specific_ SoaS.

Jonas, It's An Education Project, not a distro. It is a part of the
stated mission of SugarLabs to make Sugar available on every possible
platform. It is an essential part of that mission to manage those
platform ports that are actually used in schools in any country, and
those that are used for spreading the word. Packaging is only one
piece of that puzzle.

The question is not what SL distributes. It is what SL enables. I
repeat my request for attention to managing this complex matrix. It at
least needs some organized attention on the Wiki. I don't mind who
hosts which repositories, as long as I can find them all in one place.
I don't care where you want your bugs reported, as long as I can find
them all in one place. I do care how everything gets tested. I want a
bunch of VMs running regressions _every day_.

> But really, I recommend to separate SoaS distribution and keep Sugarlabs
> as only an upstream for Sugar.
>
> What I mean is, play with SoaS, Ubuntu, Fedora, whatever, but make it
> very clear to non-Sugar-developers that you cannot support the crap
> you've thrown together - that it should not be considered a
> "distribution" but is solely meant as an internal testing mechanisms,
> and if it happens to work ok for others then that is pure luck.

Not possible. The education mission depends critically on the
availability of at least one stable LiveCD and SoaS each, on at least
one Linux distribution. Which one, or how many, is far less critical.

> ...if anyone then wants to stand up and maintain support for a
> distribution, then great. Just don't mix upstream and distribution -
> they are very different tasks.

An issue that is completely orthogonal to what I am talking about.

>  - Jonas
>
> - --
> * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist og Internet-arkitekt
> * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/
>
>  [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private
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