Hi Göran and all,

after rethinking the SqeakMap - Debian analogy, I got more than ever the 
impression that it is important to have a pipeline like Debian with 'next Core' 
to concentrate future efforts on one working whole. 

However the most important thing is, to assure that something what is released, 
is working like an image today. To make more clear what 'core' is, I added to 
its name 'release' and the version number. So my suggestion for the packaging 
categories would be: 

'final core release 3.2'  <- historic 
'actual core release 3.4' <- must work more or less, will become 'final'
'next core release 3.5'   <- experimental and in flux, will replace 'actual'
'extra packages'          <- every package else

The 'core release' is what is now the image, and in future it will be the 
minimal image + core packages. A 'core release' is characterized by: 

- core packages can only depend on packages in their core release 
- a guide or mechanism for possible combinations of core packages
  e.g. onion-skins
- the test of all allowed combinations working together as a customized image
- something like a 'guaranty' that every package is maintained
- this guaranty has to be made by the community, not a single person
- works like a pipeline, with 'actual' -> 'final' and 'next' -> 'actual'
- is meant to grow over time ( like Debian )

To keep things simple, I think we can merge 'extra packages', 'normal packages' 
and 'core replacements' into 'extra packages': 

- packages can depend on everything, even historic and next releases
- hopefully maintained by a single person or team, but no guaranty
- this is always the place for something new like Traits
- packages with such big impacts can make it only to 'next core release'
- packages which are more peripheral may go to 'actual core release' directly

The difference between 'core release' vs 'extra' is not about kernel vs tools 
or applications. Even applications can stay perfectly well in the 'core 
release' ( see todays image and Debian ). The difference is only this: 

- only 'core release' is tested and guaranteed to be working now and in future
- 'core release' is the evolution path for Squeak
- 'extra' is the space of virtual possibilities
- 'core release' is what seems valuable for all AND on which many need to 
  depend on 

This dependance is meant to be not only programmatic. Squeak the visual, 
collaborative framework depends on tools and applications too. 

One last thought about guaranty. I think a guaranty can't be given by a single 
person. At least no one can rely on such a guaranty. If many guaranties like 
this will be promised, some will be broken. That's why I would suggest to make 
the 'core release' so that the community is able to take the full 
responsibility for it. 

regards,
Martin