Mancoosi (Managing the Complexity of the Open Source Infrastructure) is an
ongoing research project funded by the European Union for addressing some of
the challenges related to the "upgrade problem" of interdependent software
components of which Debian packages are prototypical examples. Mancoosi is the
natural continuation of the EDOS project which has already contributed tools
for distribution-wide quality assurance in Debian and other GNU/Linux
distributions. The consortium behind the project consists of several European
public and private research institutions as well as some commercial GNU/Linux
distributions from Europe and South America. Debian is represented by a small
group of Debian Developers who are working in the ranks of the involved
universities to drive and integrate back achievements into Debian. This paper
presents relevant results from EDOS in dependency management and gives an
overview of the Mancoosi project and its objectives, with a particular focus on
the prospective benefits for Debian
