My thoughts on repotag

[Dag Wieers]

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007, Michael Schwendt wrote:

> On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:42:58 +0100 (CET), Dag Wieers wrote:
> 
> > > > I'm sure you could have come up with this:
> > > > 
> > > > 	foo-1.0.0-2.el4.1.fdr < foo-1.0.0-2.el5.0.fdr
> > > > 
> > > > Which is exactly how it used to be without the repotag. I can only see bad 
> > > > intent in the form of your examples.
> > > 
> > > Do you realise that now you've gone as far as comparing a release digit
> > > with a repo tag?
> > 
> > No, I am not. In fact I have the same number of components.
> > 
> > 	2	vs	2
> > 	el	vs	el
> > 	4.1	vs	5.0
> > 	fdr	vs	fdr
> 
> ?? Has the proposal been changed? It used to be repotag at the right, so
> that is _three_ fields instead of four. You would compare packages with
> three fields against packages with four fields. Unless you want to enforce
> a very-specific format for %release to be used by all packagers and all
> repos. E.g. an ugly and inflexible 1%{?dist}.0%{?repo}

No, I added that after you mentioned it, assuming that is where you wanted 
to go. (You cut the part with your example)

 
> > > 2.el4.1 wins over all 2.el4.somerepotag
> > 
> > I fail to see how that is a problem ?
> > 
> > Since 2 packages from different repositories have no relation.
> 
> They don't have any relation? How comes?

Because if RPMforge has release 3 and EPEL has release 4 you don't know 
what patches one has, or if one is an improvement over the other.

You don't know, they are not based on the same SPEC file. Not the same 
repository. Hello ?

 
> > There is no reason why this behaviour is right or wrong.
> > 
> > In fact I would expect 2.el4.1 to win over 2.el4.repotag even in a single 
> > repository context. (eg. when you add a repotag but older packages 
> > have not) That's how RPM was designed, that's how I expect it to be.
> 
> Sure, except that using %dist is confusing enough for several packagers
> already, as they do things like  2.1.fc6 > 2.fc7

Right. That's why I thought you mentioned the above example.

 
> With the repotag the situation doesn't improve. It's another string
> that enters RPM version comparison.

It doesn't improve, but doesn't worsen either.

The repotag will not fix any deficits that you see with the disttag.

If that was your expectation, I have to disappoint you.

Kind regards,
--   dag wieers,  dag at wieers.com,  http://dag.wieers.com/   --
[all I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power]