On Wed Oct 01, 2003 at 04:33:08PM -0400, Austin wrote:
> You are all missing the easiest solution: > --- unite contib and main ---
No way in hell... not the way things currently stand.
> The only drawbacks would be: > - more security updates (this could lead to safer distro though, ditch the > unsafe apps altogether)
Really? Some of those things are in contribs for precisely that reason... people need/want the apps but we've recognized them as being unsafe(ish). Which would involve more QA, more testing, more post-release support, more developers paying attention to what's in contribs, and just plain old more of everything.
Which would not be a problem if we had fewer packges AND more help, right? Both of these things are possible in the future.
The more packages we provide, the more room for error, the more bugs, the more post-release support, the more QA, the more testing, the more validation... can I say "more more more"? =)
More support, more QA, more testing, and more validation sounds like a GOOD thing to me...
I didn't know we were in a contest for the number of packages we provided. I thought the question was quality, not quantity.
It's not a contest. It's letting the end user get his work done. I don't know if you're in any LUG's or other mailing lists, but most people I get support questions from DON'T use contribs. They download single RPMs, frig around with dependencies, then nothing works, then they ask for help.
Why the hell can we ship them contrib apps on a CD, but not have an automated way for them to setup a contrib repository at installation time? (No, urpmi. setup is not an obvious command for a new user to run)
SNF is dead. MNF still exists, and Corporate Server is what you mean to refer to (MNF is not server-specific, it's application-specific).
Okay, let me rephrase. There could be a server-specific version without the contribs stuff.
I am not at all interested in supporting a merger of contribs and main unless there is a *lot* more help in supporting it.
It would not be possible otherwise... I wasn't proposing doing it tomorrow. If 9.2 gets lots of press, and we publicise the wiki as much as possible, and we make it easy and inviting for new contributors (it's not exactly so now), we should be able to attract more help, them people like Gotz, Per Oyvind, and i wouldn't have _hundreds_ of packages each to maintain, and maybe we could do a better job of stabilizing them and supporting them. Anyway, it's a concept, not a proposal to unite the two repositories tomorrow.
Austin
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Austin Acton
Synthetic Organic Chemist, Teaching Assistant, Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Chemistry, York University, Toronto
MandrakeLinux Volunteer Developer, homepage: www.groundstate.ca