I have hesitated in starting this page due to the sensitive nature of this relationship and the (May 2002) flame war on debian-devel and other mail lists. I believe that rather than guessing about relevant points of the discussion, the facts should be presented in a clear manner. I hope the facts presented here are accurate and precise enough to be helpful in the ongoing discussion. I have not read all messages in all relevant threads.

This is a work in progress. Please email me directly if you have comments or suggestions.

* Debian Advantages of Hurd [[Distrib/PortingIssues]] Efforts
  * One of the first ports to non-Linux system along with \*BSD and win32.
  * Official GNU system distribution.

* Debian Disadvantages of Hurd [[Distrib/PortingIssues]] Efforts
  * Perceived zealous GNU and FSF promotion.

* Hurd Port Advantages of Debian
  * Glibc use.
  * Gcc use.
  * Debian reputation
  * Debian mirror infrastructure - ftp, both official and private. Includes bandwidth, hardware, maintenance efforts.
  * Debian www infrastructure - many languages supported, mirrors.
  * [Debian developer machine](http://db.debian.org/machines.cgi) infrastructure, many architectures, compile farm, buildd software.
  * Many Debian Developers maintaining software packages, bug reports, porting efforts.
  * Bug tracking system - BTS infrastructure
  * Package infrastructure architecture capabilities are improving. dpkg update in progress.

* Hurd Port Disadvantages of Debian
  * Possible DFSG vs. Free Software compatibility issues.
  * BTS Severity practices/use for unreleased ports issues.
  * Debian non-parallel development issues.
  * [Architecture handling](http://master.debian.org/~brinkmd/arch-handling.txt) issues.
  * Linux base history with assumed Linux assumptions.
  * Possible incompatibility of third party standards compliance issues. i.e. LSB, FHS, GNU Coding Standards
  * Perceived zealous Debian promotion.

-- [[Main/GrantBow]] - 22 May 2002