The project manager of the Getdeb project has decided to release the source of the website under GPL-3.

Getdeb is the #1 source for Ubuntu packages that haven’t made it into the upstream of the official Ubuntu repository.

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As some of you might know I create/update packages for Ubuntu for the GetDeb project. What the project tries to accomplish is supply updated or newly created packages that aren’t in the Ubuntu repository. Ubuntu is sometimes late with updates for packages, like the official repository still has Pidgin 2.2.1 while 2.3.1 has been out for quiet a while and maybe a few days after it’s release you could download the latest version on GetDeb. One of the reasons why Ubuntu hasn’t updated their version yet is because of the focus on the new release, Hardy, and because of all the patches they create themselves.

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I try to help with the website getdeb.net and part of it was getting rid of a popup we show for showing an image.
I knew what it was what I wanted but didn’t know what it was called, well after some searching I found out it’s called a lightbox (DUH). So called for the resemblance of the real lightbox used in photography.

As my programming skills in javascript aren’t that good I have to rely on some already made ones. And so I entered the world of javascript frameworks, there are several out there and everybody claims the one they use is the best, of course. As I won’t be doing programming myself I could care less which framework my to be implemented lightbox was using. Now that’s not entirely true because I’m sure as we start using the lightbox we’ll probably want to add different features in AJAX as well. I settled on using protoype.js and scriptaculous.js as the framework. It seems to highly popular and so I’ll probably be able to find some nice scripts that utilizes this framework.

It isn’t an easy task as there are more lightbox implementations as there are ways to design one and I’m still checking some of them out. I started with something called beatbox which looked great but as we use dynamic graphics I had to hack the script a bit. At the moment I’m using Lightwindow 2.0 and it seems to be very powerful, maybe to much for our needs at this time. Another one I will try out is Lightbox 2.0

I have to admit, the more I’m looking into AJAX the more I’m beginning to like it but I should stop myself from over using AJAX, which is very easily done.

I’m a Getdeb package builder and on the Ubuntu development discussion list there’s currently a thread about the Getdeb project and why we don’t participate in the backports program.

A little bit of history, I stumbled upon GetDeb when I was looking for Pidgin. Back then it wasn’t available in Feisty and I wanted to use the latest version. When I saw the website I got very excited about the goal to supply the latest software for Ubuntu.

The main reason why I started creating packages for Getdeb was the fact it was so easy to participate. I created an updated package and within two days it was up on the site. I tend to create packages I use myself or I believe it is a great asset to Ubuntu. This is one of the reason you won’t see me creating packages for games at the moment.

I did check to see if I could help out creating packages for as some call it, the inside Ubuntu community. All I could find was becoming a MOTU which is a whole process and I wasn’t, and I’m still not, ready for that. I didn’t know you help out in the backports without becoming a MOTU.

I will check out the backport process and see if I could help out there as well. I won’t abandon the Getdeb project, it’s a great project to participate in.