[users] How about dropping RH9 as well ?

[Anders F Björklund]

Dag Wieers wrote:

>> Well, it's not gone (yet) - just not updated with new packages.
>> I think Fedora Core 5 is now the earliest supported version ?
>
> Yes. In fact, the RPMforge packages will be available for older 
> releases
> as well. And I am committed to provide changes to SPEC files for older
> releases on request. I will simply no longer take the time to try and
> build something for an older release. (FC1, FC2 and FC3)

Sounds like a decent plan, keep the current ones and stop updating.
You could probably continue this way for Red Hat Linux 7.3 / 9 too ?

> If someone else wants to maintain one of the older releases I am happy 
> to
> help him continue the support.

Not actually using it for anything these days, but I can't really
upgrade those old machines to any of the newer releases either...
It's just that I have this feeling of "if upstream won't support it,
then why should anyone else bother". Might as well switch to CentOS ?

>>> FedoraLegacy was really helpfull in the pasts years, just as dag 
>>> repo.
>>
>> Indeed it was, but there is less interest now in 2007 - when
>> the migration to Fedora / CentOS has been completed... (IMHO)
>
> Fedora Legacy was dangerous. It gave a false sense of security while 
> there
> was no real commitment or guarantee. It was brave to do it and it was
> certainly useful to have such a project. But it was an impossible task 
> for
> a group of volunteers.

It was also doing two things at once, both supporting Red Hat Linux
as well as continuing the regular updates for Fedora Core releases.
The Progeny Transition Service probably had a clearer focus/timespan,
as well as the income to make sure the packages got out in time...

The "migration" part is done (RH7/RH9 has been dead for 3 years now)
and Fedora is now 13 months supported and Extras merging into Core.
So maybe it's time for the non-bubbly Fedora Core releases to just
rest in peace, and upgrade to Fedora Core 5+ or onto something else ?

> [...]
> At that point I was already doing RHEL/CentOS packages and RHEL/CentOS 
> was
> my main focus. It's what I used for my daytime job, it's what I use at
> home, I don't want to mess with bleeding edge systems if I don't have 
> to.

I'm only using Fedora at home and in development as well, otherwise 
CentOS.
(actually I'm using multiple OS, including Mac OS X and Windows XP, 
but...)

> What will happen with RPMforge and Fedora ? I can safely say that we 
> will
> continue to build all packages we support on Fedora Core 6 because we 
> need
> to be prepared for the next RHEL/CentOS release and because it keeps us
> alert.
>
> Dries is currently doing the Fedora Core 6 (and a few older) and that 
> will
> stay the same. I would prefer for FC7 to make the packages compatible 
> with
> Fedora Core 7 (even if we replace them) but I would prefer not to 
> replace
> them but use the native packages to build against.

You might want to update http://rpmforge.net/packager/distributions/
with this info, even though it's pretty clear from your own pages...

> But since RHEL5/CentOS5 (and newer) will not have the cheer amount of
> packages, RPMforge will need to provide packages even when they have
> appeared in Fedora Core 7. So there will be an overlap in RPMforge to
> satisfy stuff for RHEL/CentOS.

So you might have like two areas, one for system stuff
(dependencies) and one for regular add-ons / contribs ?

> What's more, since I am part of the CentOS developers team and actively
> involved in some of the events/discussions, I hope RPMforge can evolve 
> to
> something better designed and structured to allow more people to
> contribute, much like CentOS evolved.

So basically RPMforge is migrating towards RHEL/CentOS,
like having it cooperate closer with CentOS Extras/etc ?

> This would include automated test repository, buildfarm, more 
> developers
> having access, wiki, communities based around packages, etc...

Sounds very interesting, I'll contact you off the list.
(I can rebuild the packages for PowerPC, for instance?)

--anders

PS.
I'm the sorry maintainer of the old still-born project:
http://rpm4darwin.sourceforge.net/ - RPM for Mac OS X
I do find the rpmcomp and tarcomp tools from it useful
on other distributions, so maybe I should revive it...