Starting a new dist...

[chewie@wookimus.net]

The largest project one has when starting a new distribution is laying out
policy.  Policy, and the adherence to it, is what distinguishes a good
distribution from a hack.  The Linux Standards Base is a project dedicated to
laying out policy.  Start there.  Change what you don't like, adapt what you
do, but document everything.

The next thing that makes a good distribution great are the package management
tools.  Whether you're talking about a "ports" like system borrowed from
FreeBSD or a binary package distribution like "dpkg" and "apt-get" from Debian
or "rpm" from RedHat, it is the package system that implements your
distribution's policy.

These are the two things that really define WHAT a distribution is: the policy,
and the implementation of that policy.  If your motivation for starting a new
distribution is simply because you can't find things as easily as you can in
Windows (and that is very debatable), then I would suggest educating yourself
on the existing policies for various distributions.  Even before thinking about
creating a new distribution, I would ask myself, "can I live with
<distribution>'s policies?"  If so, consider making your software tools to help
fill in the gaps or perhaps lobby to get policy changed/enforced.

I seriously think you'd be much happier in the long run.  There is a syndrom
you must be very careful to avoid.  It's called the "not invented here"
syndrom, the apathy to use anything you didn't create yourself.  The Open
Source community is full of entrepeneaurs who would rather die than use someone
else's software/distribution.  The "not invented here" syndrom advantageous in
that it generates competition, but it can be a hindrance just as easily.

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Chad Walstrom                         mailto:chewie@wookimus.net 
a.k.a ^chewie, gunnarr                http://wookimus.net/chewie

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