Re: splitting debian

[Ted Whalen <tew@debian.org>]

Wichert Akkerman wrote:
> You need to split at a much higher level, and give each new subset
> its own sections. Simple example:
> 
>     subset                 sections
> 
>     debian-base            admin, base, devel, libs, etc.
>     debian-science         astro, biology, electronics, math, etc.
>     debian-docs            manuals, tutorials, religous
>     debian-multimedia      3D, animation, editors, sounds

While I think that splitting off some of the niche software is quite
reasonable, I think that distributing text/images/sounds/data is beyond
the scope of the Debian project, and leads to some dilution of our
strengths.  Encouragement, collection, and distribution of open texts
and free datasets perhaps ought to be left to another group.  It's a
big enough job that it would take an organization unto itself.  I would
prefer that Debian stick to free software, and let another group form
that deals with free content.

While freely redistributible and modifiable text/data is an admirable
goal in my opinion, others might not agree.  I see a group dedicated to
distributing free content as an associated adjunct to Debian, but not
as a subset of Debian.

-- 
                   And it says "I burn."
                 Ted Whalen - tew@debian.org