On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 1:53 PM, Keith M Wesolowski <Keith.Wesolowski at sun.com> wrote:
> > We *have to* figure out how to fill a repository with the "15,000 > > debian things" without killing the projects, the ARCs, the Community > > or OpenSolaris. > > I don't share your commitment to this goal, but I will express a > requirement. When we finally awake from this horrifying nightmare, it > needs to be quick and easy to pick up where we left off with > architecturally sane, well-integrated consolidations. Whether they're > packaged up using SVr4 or IPS makes no difference; the important thing > is that we can jettison all the unreviewed, underreviewed, or > exception-stuffed content at the source level. It's also important > that this be possible at any time between now and then; i.e., anyone > can escape for the cost of maintaining a fork. > > This suggests that the content in question simply be kept in its own > consolidation that does not require ARC review to integrate. This > consolidation should then deliver its output to a separate repository > clearly segregated from the rest. Everyone's expectations will be > very clear without needing a bunch of flags and taxons. In fact, > while we're using Debian as a model, I'll even point out that this is > analogous to their "non-free" packages, segregated and named in a way > suggesting that one might be better off without them. Perhaps we > could achieve the same result by putting these packages in a > repository called "debian-like". If you really insist on a more > clever solution, a single bit will do. There's even a standard that > provides a good template for its implementation; see RFC 3514. > > Cost to the ARC: zero. > Cost to the projects: zero. > Cost the Community: trivial costs in repository management process. > Cost to OpenSolaris: negative - provides major benefits. > > Seems like a winner, no? Not that my opinion matters much here except as a consumer of technology, but I think this is a fantastic idea, and would allow technologically conservative people such as myself to avoid the FOSS free-for-all, while allowing those who want more bleeding edge featureful software to allow that without being bogged down with ages old software because newer versions are still making it through pointless fasttracks, as an overall site policy without having to research each individual package -- PGP Public Key 0x437AF1A1 Available on hkp://pgp.mit.edu
