Hello,
[Resending as first email was rejected; wasn't a member of the list]
We'd like to package a Rust application for Fedora, Retis[1]. We
currently distribute it in COPR[2] because we can't easily follow the
Fedora Rust packing rules at the moment but that is far from being
perfect (on all levels). Don't get me wrong, I think the packaging rules
make sense; but those are a high entry barrier for projects with
multiple unpackaged complex dependencies (recursively).
We wrote a plan with detailed steps to get there,
https://github.com/retis-org/retis/milestone/13.
It's basically divided into the following directions:
- Take over / upgrade some outdated dependencies.
- Package the missing dependencies in Fedora. Some are easier than
others to package / maintain.
- Remove the use of other dependencies.
There are a few issues to overcome (packaging complex dependencies takes
time, I think we have a dep of a dep w/o a license, etc) but most
importantly I think the concern is with maintenance; especially when
it's not trivial.
All that of course will be quite an effort so we thought we should ask
for your input and advises on if this is the right direction or if you
have some comments? Also we're wondering if there's anything that could
ease the process or make the delay shorter (eg. vendoring *some* deps
temporarily)?
The above also raises an additional question: any additional dependency
added upstream, if not already packaged and non trivial, could gate
upcoming releases from being packaged. Gating upstream development on
downstream packaging doesn't look right and I guess those kind of issues
are just expected (we already have one coming); but wanted to ask just
in case :)
Thanks!
Antoine
[1]
https://retis.readthedocs.io/en/stable/
[2]
https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/g/retis/retis/