C++ compatibility package dropped

[Mike Hearn]

Hi,

It's that time again! Fedora Core 4 no longer installs the
compat-libstdc++ package by default, meaning that any users who install
or run a C++ app which was built using GCC 3.3 or lower is now greeted
with an incomprehensible and unhelpful error (or nothing, if they use the
GUI).

C++ is used by a lot of games and other commercial apps. Virtually none
use the new C++ DSO version. Many never will.

The release notes talk repeatedly about the "solid platform" that GCC 4
brings: this must be some new use of the word platform I have not yet
encountered as to me the word platform implies some measure stability. 

This sort of thing crops up with every Fedora release. The message now, as
then, is simple: this gratuitous and unnecessary breakage of backwards
compatibility must end. If it does not all the work GNOME and the rest of
the Fedora desktop team is putting in will be wasted - a usable desktop
that falls flat on its face the moment you leave the CD set behind is not
usable in the real world at all.

Please, save the usual replies. I know some here think any packages not
used within the distribution should be dropped. I know some don't care
about games (even the open source ones). I don't want to hear it -
Fedora is not the universe, and if it wishes to be taken seriously should
not pretend to be.

thanks -mike