Open source grouping The Impi League has launched the first formal attempt at a full South African Linux distribution. Further adding to its uniqueness, one commentator says, it will come in local languages, comes bundled with local applications and breaks new ground in installation and support.
Alastair Otter, editor of Tectonic, an online open source publication, comments that Impi, as it is called, is "well-timed and a great way to showcase South African programming talent and include local applications".
Ross Addis, technology consultant at MIP Holdings, which sponsors marketing of Impi, heads up The Impi League. He says it aims to be an "integrated, multilingual, professional and innovative" open source solution to the local market. Addis is also chairman of the Gauteng Linux User Group.
Timely release
Impi comes at a time when companies are looking for alternatives in freely downloadable software, says Otter. Red Hat, a high-profile Linux distribution, is focusing on the enterprise, and Novell has recently gone on a buying spree with distributions like Ximian and SuSE. It will also benefit from the South African government`s adoption of open source software.
Impi, based largely on Debian, "is not about simply releasing a [generic] Linux distribution we can call our own," says Addis. "It will also encourage local innovation and spur growth in IT skills... As it is pure open source software, anyone can download it for free, use it, modify it and do with it as they please, as long as they comply with the underlying licensing conditions." Modification and redistribution in terms of standard Linux GPL licensing means having to include the source code.
How South African is it?
The distribution`s first act in support of local innovation sees Cubit, an open source financial application developed in SA, bundled with it. Impi is also bundled with core business applications, including Mozilla for e-mail and Web browsing and OpenOffice, a full office suite.
To tailor the operating system further to local requirements, work will begin on including SA`s 10 other official languages, using translations carried out by the Translate.org.za project. After that is complete, The Impi League plans to take Impi into the rest of Africa.
"To date, all the work done on customising the distribution and all the money spent has remained within the borders of SA," states Addis. "We intend to follow this pattern with all future development and to initiate skills transfer programmes."
Something borrowed, something new
Otter notes two new aspects of this distribution. Borrowing some non-Debian features from Knoppix, the distribution runs off the CD without installing. This allows compatibility checking before installing. Furthermore, Impi comes with 24-hour, charged-for support, which also includes support for other distributions. Otter says this is "definitely a first, and hasn`t worked yet. It is very resource-intensive. But it is early days."
Addis adds that a server version is being planned. He says the reasons for starting a local distribution, rather than simply working off source code that is freely available elsewhere, include the language, time and distance problems of dealing with developers in other countries. "There is a lot of involvement from other businesses, associations, user groups and individuals here. Access is just easier when you deal with the developers here."
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