Debian or Ubuntu: who can I help?

From the user's point of view, it is relatively simple to make a choice between Debian and Ubuntu. Everyone has their own personal preferences, and it will not take too long to try both OSes. But when it comes to contributing to development, it will take much more time to do this, and you probably want to think about it twice before you start. So which system is better to spend your time?

This is a difficult question to which there is no answer that would satisfy everyone. It all depends on what your incentive is to participate in the development.

Ubuntu: better for newbies?

On the one hand, you probably started with a more user-friendly system - Ubuntu. You like it and you would like to repay something to the project, for example, by your contribution to the development. Perfect solution!

In addition, if you are not one of those people who likes to learn (mostly) alone, Ubuntu is likely to be the best place to contribute (at least in the beginning). With the Ubuntu Developer Week , as well as the work of the Ubuntu community managers, you will find more help for new members than with Debian.
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Debian: high principles?

On the other hand, as soon as you become a permanent contributor, you will remain with them forever, thanks to the community and the principles that unite you.

Lucas Nussbaum (who is a developer of both Ubuntu and Debian), in his speech on mini-debconf in Paris, said that the Debian community has higher principles, since it is the work of volunteers only, while Canonical has a significant impact on Ubuntu.

This was again demonstrated a few days ago by a story with Banshee and its related Amazon affiliate earnings. I liked Mark Shuttleworth’s clarifications on this point, but this story nonetheless is proof that the power of the Ubuntu community has its limits.

Returning to the topic of the article, on a more fundamental level, in many cases, Debian is the right system to contribute, even when you really want to help Ubuntu. Whenever you are working on 75% of the packages that came directly from Debian, it is in the interest of Ubuntu not to create any discrepancies with Debian. That is, any bugfix that you would like to do should ideally be included in the official Debian package (or directly in upstream).

And while doing work for Debian, you work in the interests of more people, since your work will fall into all distributions derived from Debian (and not just in Ubuntu and its descendants).

Why make a contribution?

Debian has a clear answer: The Debian Social Contract . If you contribute to the development of Debian, it usually helps to achieve a high goal: to bring users a universal, high-quality OS.

If we talk about Ubuntu, everything here is not so clear. Where is the document tying people together? Bug # 1 , which says that Microsoft should not have an edge in the market? Or a code of corporate ethics ?

Invest in both

As a conclusion, I would like to point out the obvious. There is no need to help only one system. You can develop for both systems, as many do. Just contribute when it makes sense.

Encourage Debian development, when deep infrastructure changes are required, where to avoid discrepancies, or when you plan to change a package that is not yet modified in Ubuntu.

Contribute to the development of Ubuntu when you are working on projects that are already heavily customized (or even forked), or when you are working on new experimental projects that cannot be included in Debian.

But you have to remember that the choice exists and ask yourself whenever you are going to contribute something to this OS.

About the author : Rafael Herzog is a Debian developer. He is working on a package manager (dpkg). He also runs a monthly newsletter , where he shares his thoughts about the news about Debian and Ubuntu.

From the translator: This is my first translation of the article, corrections and criticism are welcome.