Relationship to existing 3rd party repos/CentOS/SL?

[C.M. Connelly]

Speaking as an end-user/sysadmin, I'm not clear on why the repotag
issue is as controversial as it appears to be.

From my perspective, RHEL (really mostly CentOS) is the base OS.
On top of that, I expect to layer EPEL packages, very likely some
packages from RPMForge, and packages from my own local repos (for
special needs or for packages that just aren't (and maybe can't
be) available from other sources).

Having read all the messages on the topic, I agree that the
current EPEL steering committee is not out to take over the world
or *intends* to imply that other repositories are less important,
but I can definitely see how Axel and Dag can *feel* like that's
where the committee is coming from, because that's how it feels to
me.

My understanding of the argument from the no-repotag side is that
EPEL is going to avoid package overlap with RHEL (upstream), so
they're not technically necessary.

But EPEL is still a supplementary repo, just as RPMForge, ATrpms,
and my own repos will be.  EPEL may avoid package overlap with
RHEL, but it's very likely (almost guaranteed) that we will see
overlap between EPEL and other repos.  Adding the repotag seems
like a fairly neutral, technically free, and politically nice
option that will help people sort out potential conflicts.  Not
having the repotag *implies* that EPEL is upstream, pisses off
some very skilled and valuable possible contributors and
collaborators [*], and makes life just a little bit harder for end
users and system administrators trying to support those end users.

   Claire

[*] Suppose that over time EPEL's users and maintainers decide
    to add a secondary repo with newer packages.  Wouldn't it be
    great to coordinate that repo with other folks maintaining
    similar repos?  Maybe even get them to maintain those newer
    packages within the EPEL structure?

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  Claire Connelly                              cmc at math.hmc.edu 
  Systems Administrator                          (909) 621-8754   
  Department of Mathematics                 Harvey Mudd College
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