[Freedombox-discuss] is a distributed search engine (e.g. YaCy) to be part of the FB package?

[James Vasile]

On Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:08:47 +0200, Luka Marčetić <paxcoder at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 07/16/2011 05:15 AM, ya knygar wrote:
> >> The box as shipped will have a relatively small subset of possible
> >> >  packages (just as Debian installation has a small subset of the repo's
> >> >  packages).
> > Where was it decided and when?
> 
> He was simply saying that we can't include all packages from the repo in 
> the FreedomBox sub-distro. In context, it's simply an "ignoratio 
> elenchi", if you will ( no offense, James ;-) ).

I don't know what that means, but I think you just called me ignorant. ;)

> He did state it was his opinion that search would be excluded

The basis of my opinion is that I talk to a *lot* of people about what
FreedomBox is and what they need.  Search has never been at the top of
the list of things people say they want.  Sometimes people ask if it
will be there, but nobody so far has indicated this is a higher priority
for them than most of the other things FreedomBox is going to try to
do.

> I'd suggest you offer your pros. As have been said, Freedombox
> (un)fortunately is a lot of things to a lot of people, but the main
> flavor (hopefully the Debian one, not influenced by the Foundation*),
> is hopefully going to need consensus.  *I don't want you to get me
> wrong, I just hope the community will have the final say (and it most
> often does, one way or another).  Luka.

As I said, if the community wants it and builds it, anything is
possible.  If the demand is there, it will be available.  And if it
turns out it needs to be on by default, it will be.  My prediction is
not a decision.  In fact, I have no decision-making power here at all.
FreedomBox software will live in Debian's repositories, and the images
we build will pull from those repos too.  We're not going to control
what happens when you 'apt-get install FreedomBox' any more than Mozilla
dictates what happens when you install a Firefoxish browser.

My guess is that the FreedomBox will be available in a few different
forms:

 * an image people can download from the Foundation.  Eben, Bdale and
   the TAC will make decisions on that (though obviously heavily
   influenced by what the community wants, needs and makes possible).

 * a retail box people can buy off the shelf.  The plug manufacturers
   will have the final say on that.  I imagine specialized versions
   (e.g. a small office edition) though I imagine some will largely
   adopt the Foundation version.
 
 * images from others that will specialize on feature sets (I can
   imagine a box that is highly tuned for VOIP).  We want image
   choosing/switching to be somewhat easy so if you start with the
   Foundation image (perhaps because it came with your box) you can
   switch images without too many hoops.  We'd like to obviate JTAG
   cables and screwdrivers.

 * packages in Debian that people can install as they please to
   cherrypick FreedomBox functionality for themselves.  Debian (i.e. you
   folks) has the final say on what goes in its repos.  The config
   nightmare on this last one scares me.

The bottom line here is that the Foundation will make decisions about
what *it* publishes.  But we have no interest in dictating what Debian
publishes (as if we could!). I think it's likely that we will also link
to the best/popular/most whatever versions others make too.

Hope that helps,
James