[sugar] A special linux distribution for developing OLPC applications

[Manish Regmi]

>
> I think the problem you'll run into is the same reason we're using
> jhbuild; the dev bits are constantly in flux.  So, even if you prebuild
> everything and give out CDs, you'll still need to distribute a bunch of
> updates on a weekly basis.  None of the process is stable yet, and that
> means a lot of churn of the bits.  You might be able to save some time
> by packaging up the stuff we don't expect to change that often (glib,
> gtk) but stuff like sugar, gstreamer, python bindings, etc are likely to
> change quite a bit.  We may also be adding packages or removing packages
> from our build images at various times, which complicates doing this
> from a distribution.  For example, a lot of stuff links to OpenGL
> libraries, and these may be present on your development distribution.
> But the OLPC likely won't have OpenGL libraries.  So if you build an
> activity on a normal distro (this is true for anything even Fedora Core)
> it won't necessarily run on the real OLPC because of missing libraries.

Oh yes. this looks like a bit of a problem.
  The reason we came up with idea of building distro with prebuilt
olpc packages and other development packages is because the the
Internet sucks here. There is no broadband connections for 99% of us.
So, even if Nepalese developers wanted to contribute to olpc by
writing softwares, they wont have packages to do so. And even if they
try to aptget or yum the packages it would take days if not weeks.

  As you said that packages are in constant flux,  i dont see point in
giving out cds of customised distro. It can be a waste of time for us
because the developers who would be using such distros with unstable
packages will need constant updates.

The idea of creating deb or rpm packages of the required packages for
olpc development sounds nice to me.
  But again the problem here is not the packages but how to distribute
it to local developers/students. We cannot distribute cds in weekly
basis. :)

Any other suggestion on how we can solve the problem?


Thanks,
Manish Regmi
OLPC Nepal

-- 
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regards
Manish Regmi

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UNIX without a C Compiler is like eating Spaghetti with your mouth
sewn shut. It just doesn't make sense.