Re: Arabbix - a proposal

[Muhammad Alkarouri <malkarouri at yahoo dot co dot uk>]

--- Nadim Shaikli <shaikli at yahoo dot com> wrote:
[...]
> I liked everything that I read (some comments below) yet I caution (for the
> sake of completeness and this should _NOT_ halt this drive) of continuing
> with Ubuntu if they really start to divert from Debian to where we'll have
> to create two different .deb packages to satisfy each (this is not meant
> to start a "this is already happening" flame war btw); just something to
> keep in mind and to continue to keep an eye out on...

Totally agree. As we need to increase our expertise now and get something
working, we are now proceeding with Ubuntu. If everything goes to plan, I
propose we review the decision after two iterations of our cd, that is after we
get a CD depending on the next Ubuntu version. This will effectively be
Arabbix2 and will not be discussed before next June, say. If it proves worth
the cost, we port all our work to Debian. It will be way more easier.

[...]
> Agreed, although the idea was not so much to create those "modules" but
> to spell-out exactly what is needed for one to create his/her own.  In
> other words, we should not spend any time on packaging or creating modules
> that we ourselves won't be using hoping that someone will pick them up.

Yep. We are doing one example for each 'module' infrastructure, documenting
that, and automating it as much as possible. So, "spell-out"="document and
automate". In my opinion, the more "automate" the better.

> A 'islamic-theme' "module" comes to mind - we should make it plenty clear
> to anyone (and they don't need to be a power user, the simpler more straight
> forward, the better) reading the doc what they are required to do in order
> to accomplish the feat of creating their own "module".  Else we could
> start hosting "sanitized" modules somewhere on the 'net if people opted
> for that instead.  In any regard this is a detail that needs to be worked
> out and also keep in mind that my definition of an "islamic-theme" module
> might be vastly different from someone else's yet the names ought not
> clash somehow which might lead an outsider to think "shesh, these guys
> are nuts with all these various variations of the _same_ thing" -- again
> just a thought.  I think it would be best to concentrate on the cookbook
> (on how to get things created - ie. document the heck out of what needs
> to be done) and leave it to for people to create.

I like the theme idea, and I am sure that there will be many competing
variations at some point. As for the expected problems, well let's not cross
the bridge before we reach it. I am keen to prove that something can be done in
the first place.


Now, back to business. It looks that there is nothing especially wrong with the
plan, so I assume the the main lines are right. I feel there are more issues to
raise, and after that other technicalities about project setup. Meanwhile, I
will start to write a document in the wiki explaining how I customize a Ubuntu
CD in the weekend. Of course it is not complete, but I am aiming for a running
documentation where everything is documented as it is done. It will be in
http://wiki.arabeyes.org/UbuntuCustomizationForArabic

Salam,
Muhammad Alkarouri


		
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