Nick,
sure Daemontools is not LSB compliant but that doesn't prevent the creation and distribution of Daemontools in RPM format.
DJB's requirement that a binary distribution results in the same installation as installation from source is entirely in line with the goals of the RPM format.
Not being LSB compliant might exclude Daemontools from distributions like Fedora, SuSe and others. But with 3rd party repositories becoming main stream thanks to 'yum' and 'apt' there is an attractive alternative.
OpenACS sets up and maintains a repository of binary distributions of all the software required by OpenACS not already included in the OS distributions OpenACS supports. All users would have to do is register the OpenACS repository to use 'yum' or 'apt' to retrieve OpenACS and the packages it depends upon.
I'm not too keen on switching from Daemontools to Runit, which in essence is a clone of Daemontools. It might have more open license but it doesn't address any of the other objects you've raised. Daemontools has proven its worth and has received community support in the form of patches.
You'll find a RPM of Daemontools for Fedora 2 at the Code Mill if you would like to give it a whirl.
/Bart
the Code Mill
