[Koha] Ubuntu based distro

[Steven Owley]

On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 3:25 PM, Joe Atzberger <ohiocore at gmail.com> wrote:
> LibLime had an Ubuntu-based Koha live CD at the 2008 code4lib conference.
> You would be surprised how out of date the thing is now.
>
<snip>
> Steve's idea of forking the dependencies so they cannot update from CPAN is,
> in my opinion, a net loss in efficiency and manageability.  How would Koha
> hand down updates and bugfixes to those modules once installed?  Do you
> propose Koha incorporate and git-track the entire perl dependency tree?
> What about compiled dependencies?

I think that I am proposing just that--the koha installation should be
self-contained, and everything it needs to be run (if not built)
within a given host OS should be in the distribution, including a
custom-built perl, MySQL and Apache, statically-linked.  Development
should take place within those constraints, too.

For handing down bugfixes and updates, surely git can do that.  I do
not see any advantage to Koha refusing to run properly because the
default perl distribution on Debian is too new, as has been the case
recently.  It's "dll hell" all over again.  I see big long-run
advantages to a self-contained distribution from a maintenance
standpoint.

This is how III Millennium does it--for instance, there is a parallel
installation of Apache in there, somewhere in that /iii directory, for
no other reason than that Innovative can completely control it.  MySQL
too.  I can do what I like with the OS, as long as I don't stomp over
their open ports.

But I bet this conversation has already happened a dozen times, and
since I do not have the expertise to actually do all this, I will stop
arguing for it, however inevitable I think it is.

Steve