Hook up with Zenwalk

[nubcnubdo]

I wonder how difficult it would be for VectorLinux to hook up with Zenwalk, make a combined effort. Does Zenwalk have a dynamic leader like Robert Lange? Has this been discussed before? I would like to hear the consensus on this, if it's been covered before. Okay, what is Jean-Philippe Guillemin like? How do Zenwalk users compare to VL users? Is Jean-Philipe friends with Vector? Just wondering...

[metvas]

With our current load of projects this would be down the road some just to consider. Don't know anything about them at all. Would be some legal issues as well. Post any ideas you have but remember it will be awhile to concentrate on this. Still in the trows of VL machines at Madtux and pre-paid help site is being worked on now.
regards
Darrell

[The Headacher]

We'd just be removing a great distro from a world filled with debian based trash.

[Kocil]

I wonder how difficult it would be for VectorLinux to hook up with Zenwalk, make a combined effort. Does Zenwalk have a dynamic leader like Robert Lange? Has this been discussed before? I would like to hear the consensus on this, if it's been covered before. Okay, what is Jean-Philippe Guillemin like? How do Zenwalk users compare to VL users? Is Jean-Philipe friends with Vector? Just wondering...

From technical point of view, not very difficult.
I'm building three distros right now (including VL).
Some use Slackware as the base, the rest use Zenwalk.
I can switch between the two bases easily, except some dependency problems.

IMHO, VL has a few more advanced features and a lot of more optional packages.
However, Zenwalk is far better on repository management.

[Toe]

I've been trying out a lot of different Slackware-based distros lately to see if they had anything that might be useful to have in Vector.  So far I haven't seen much that interested me.  Zenwalk is the one I had the highest hopes for, but so far I haven't been able to get it to install.  (I use VirtualBox for distro testing).

Still, I used maybe 8 different distros that have slapt-get/gslapt as their primary package manager.  I think the biggest thing that could be gained is colaboration on repositories.

[blurymind]

which is impossible for vector to do with zenwalk.....since zenwalk is way ahead with versions ,while vector is trying to keep in line with slackware official packages (the more stable choice)

[Triarius Fidelis]

We'd just be removing a great distro from a world filled with debian based trash.

Yeah.

I'm not entirely sure why we'd want to merge with Zenwalk when their culture is significantly different.

[incognu]

I can't work up much enthusiasm for this idea ... I really like VL as it is.  It seems like some sort of merger with ZW would involve some basic changes in approach in some areas, either for them or us, or both.  The area I'm thinking of in particular is ZW's "one app only" vs the "choose what you want" approach of VL.

[easuter]

The area I'm thinking of in particular is ZW's "one app only" vs the "choose what you want" approach of VL.

Yep, this is one of my reasons too.
A merger would probably be more disruptive than beneficial, after all, the reason VL and Zenwalk exist separately is because there have to be differences in philosophy/design objectives.

This doesn't mean there can't be colaboration in areas we agree upon!

[incognu]

The area I'm thinking of in particular is ZW's "one app only" vs the "choose what you want" approach of VL.

Yep, this is one of my reasons too.
A merger would probably be more disruptive than beneficial, after all, the reason VL and Zenwalk exist separately is because there have to be differences in philosophy/design objectives.

Yes, either way it went you'd have very disappointed people.  Variety is a good thing, because no one way of doing things will please everyone, or satisfy everyone's needs.  The diversity of distros is imo one of the strengths of GNU/Linux. 

This doesn't mean there can't be colaboration in areas we agree upon!

Absolutely!  No argument there.

[rbistolfi]

This doesn't mean there can't be colaboration in areas we agree upon!

Could be nice if slackware based distros could build a common repo. I guess some standards on packaging are needed to do that, and srong rules about maintenance, etc. But if it is possible, could be a nice step. A lot of *buntu distros borned recently, just because they can use their big repositorie.

[Joe1962]

Now that would be a cool idea to take Slackware distros to the bubuntu levels. I fear that the discussions to set the standards might get pretty messy though.

[rbistolfi]

Now that would be a cool idea to take Slackware distros to the bubuntu levels. I fear that the discussions to set the standards might get pretty messy though.

Of course, I didnt mean slackware based distros should be like *buntu, I said just some distros could join efforts to build a better repo, if there is a common general idea. Standards are not bad if they are in the correct place, for example, what matter where a .desktop file goes? A standard location and formats for .desktop files would be great for linux users. And the same for some locations of libs or things like that.

[Joe1962]

Err... I meant what I said literally, which is that it really is a cool idea to have a huge, well maintained, common repo for Slackware distros. I know personally how hard it is to keep a properly organized repo with little manpower ...

[Toe]

Or perhaps form something like the DCC Alliance (formerly Debian Core Consortium) for the Slackware world?  Come up with a common base for things like lib versions, repo format (spread the slapt-get + tlz love?), compile flags, etc.

Not sure if you guys are aware of this or not, but Ultima Linux and Wolvix have recently agreed to colaborate with each other.  Perhaps that would be a good place to begin such a discussion?