changelogs in packages and space use

[Ralf Corsepius]

On Fri, 2007-08-31 at 23:52 -0400, Bill Nottingham wrote:
> Douglas McClendon (dmc.fedora at filteredperception.org) said: 
> > So maybe the above (I'm skeptical, was that 8.6M *squashfs compressed* 
> > saved?) only helps for one release cycle.  Then for a release cycle or two 
> > you have to sacrifice shipping every language in the world on the same cd, 
> > and go with regional spins.
> 
> That's my point, though - how is a release method where each release
> you offer *less* functionality to the user a good thing?
Of cause not, but ...

All this is based on the assumption "media technology doesn't evolve".

Fact is it does.

 We once had "Linux on 5 floppies", then "Linux on CD", then "Linux on X
CDs", then "Linux on DVD", now we're gradually approaching the "Linux on
online media-age".

That said, I don't see much sense in spinning "crippled distros on
<small media>". Instead we should have a very small "minimum
installation/loader <medium>", which should redirect users either to
further "add-on <media>" or directly send them on-line.

In an ideal world, I would like to see something like a set of CDs/DVDs,
one of which is "the installer CD", and a loosely coupled set of CDs
containing all packages Fedora consists of. Not a "Gnome-edition", not a
"KDE-edition", not a "gamers', engineer's or whatever edition".

Actually, I thought that this would be what you (rel-eng) guys would be
working on.

Ralf