Some thoughts about yum and repositories

[Robin Laing]

Douglas Furlong wrote:
> 
> 
> Yes, I understand all of that, and mentioned most of it in the post
> (stating that this would not be an out of the box set up, couldn't be
> bothered to type it all out as it's been bashed through many times on
> the list, and I agree with Fedora's stance).
> 
> With regards to the conflicts, I also pointed that out.
> 
> I'm not giving an answer to every thing, I'm making a suggestion, for
> hopefully some one to come back with a positive agreement/disagreement
> with what I suggested.
> 
> 

I will echo these comments.

The biggest issue with yum.conf that I have found is knowing the 
correct text to put into it.  It is all and well to follow an example 
but if one site is slightly different, then you could spend along time 
wondering how you screwed up.  I have been there.

The idea of a distro list being part of the main updates would also 
provide a list of repositories that work, partially work or really 
suspect within the fedora standard model.  The user could then 
un-comment the various repos' as required or wanted.  This is where a 
simple graphical front end would come in handy.  It doesn't deal with 
the mirror issue.

Adding an application like yumi then allows a user to look at all the 
various applications on those sites.  As I have two children, I was 
looking for games and I was surprised by the number of games that were 
available from various repos.  It was finding them that was a problem.

A yum.conf.YYMMDD file that is downloaded as part of updates with a 
list of all repositories.  Or a better list of all the fedora 
repositories on a central site, with yum.conf examples that can be cut 
and pasted would be a start.

Keep things simple for the new users.  I have heard people that have 
tried Fedora or linux state that they cannot find applications.  This 
would make it much easier.  We still need a integrated graphical 
package manager for the former windows crowd that doesn't know a 
command line from source code.

I like yumi but I also like command line.  Yumi provides a great way 
to see or search for applications in a quick way from accepted 
repositories.  It is a start.  gyum is just another version of yumi.

-- 
Robin Laing