On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:53:41 +0200 "François Cami" fdc@fcami.net wrote:
Hello,
We've noticed time and again that some support requests in #fedora stem from extensive modifications of users' systems. Kernels from kernel.org, or xorg from git, come to mind. As a result, we seem to have an informal policy stating that we do not support extensively modified systems. Yet this policy is not present in the FAQ, and it is sometimes non-trivial to make sure a user's system is not modified.
Yeah.
<snip fpaste --sysinfo> ;)
As for the FAQ entry, this is my proposal:
== Keep to Fedora-provided packages == Please use the packages Fedora provides. Deviating from these can render your system unstable or introduce bugs. You should exercise caution before adding software from third-parties, especially unpackaged software.
Thats fine, but I might add at the end:
Please let people who are trying to help you know when you have added such packages.
(Or something to that effect).
I would like us to show openness to modifications though. Two specific examples:
- some users happen to need a kernel, or xorg stuff, from
updates-testing for their hardware to work. Of course this will break other packages (the kmods from rpmfusion come to mind), but I feel we can manage such situations, or at the very least explain what could break when doing that.
- some users request support after breaking their systems, for
instance while installing proprietary drivers with upstream installers. I don't think we should stop at saying "not supported" in this case, especially if said user asks how to repair his system (which is something we can help with most of the time).
Yeah, I think we should be willing to help people get back to a fedora packaged/stable system when they do this (although sometimes the answer will be 'reinstall').
kevin