On Wed, 2005-07-27 at 13:42 -0700, Karsten Wade wrote:
On Wed, 2005-07-27 at 08:21 -0400, Paul W. Frields wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-07-27 at 11:58 +0100, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> >
> > I always replace the repositories given in the default entries
> > by local repositories (I mean in Ireland, in my case).
> > I don't know if that is standard practice.
>
> It's not, since the default entries are to mirror lists and not single
> sites. Your package requests go to a random mirror entry, meaning
> there's a basic and large-scale load balancing that happens without you
> having to do anything. What happens otherwise if your local repo is
> down?
I wonder if the idea of having repositories package their .repo and
other files in an RPM is going to take hold? As long as the Core and
Extras repositories do that, we can use them as an example in such a way
that users understand they can do the same with a repo package from
their favorite outside repository.
Keeping our focus on *only* what ships in Core and Extras makes our jobs
both easier and hard. The old rule that, "When the only tool you have
is a hammer, suddenly every problem looks like a nail," that can happen
to us. However, it is awfully nice to have a scope.
Strangely, the other day I was thinking about another cautionary axiom
for the FOSS world, which is "Even if you just discovered a toolbox full
of fizzgigs, hoojybodgies and whatsits, sometimes the nail pops need to
be addressed first. Use the hammer for that." I hope that my admitting
this isn't somehow undermining your point; I just had to get it off my
chest.
This is my way of saying that I concur with Paul's assessment
about
discussing with outside repositories.
One way to be helpful could be, if we had an FAQ with a question that
would have an answer of, "Don't cross the repository streams," we can
just tell people that if they are using non-Core or Extras repositories,
they may have conflicts between packages in those files, yadda yadda
yadda.
Since Extras became fully open to community participation, there's a lot
fewer problems with repository conflicts. Most of the third-party repos
have tended to drop things that are appearing in Extras, meaning that
most conflicts occur between different third-party repos. A few of them
are consolidating to address the problem. Some claim there is no
problem. Some are correct.
Since so many of them are offering legally encumbered solutions, it's a
touchy situation for us to address. Telling people "don't cross the
repo streams" (I like this one!) may not be as accurate as "don't cross
*certain* repo streams," but we need to stay out of that morass AFAIC.
--
Paul W. Frields, RHCE
http://paul.frields.org/
gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233 5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
Fedora Documentation Project:
http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/docs/