It would be nice to see an overview from folks who've been involved. You can get some of the history from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dpkg#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dselect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Packaging_Tool#History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptitude_(software)#History http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/project-history/ch-detaile....