Some thoughts about yum and repositories

[William Hooper]

D. D. Brierton said:
[snip]
> 1. Yum repositories should have a mirrors.xml file. All the user
> need do is sign up to the main repository itself, the mirrors.xml file is
> downloaded, and yum tries to use the mirror that is closest or fastest
> (I'm not sure *how* it should do
> that, but lets think of this as an ideal scenario proposal).

The version of yum in rawhide already has this.  IIRC it does it using the
same format as up2date, point it to a text file of repos and it randomly
picks one.

[snip]
> 3. If 1. can be implemented, then I think the GPG key of
> the repository should automatically be installed

At the bare minimum it should prompt you if you want to install the key. 
IMHO since this is a once-a-repo operation automation isn't needed.  I
also like to know what keys I'm installing.

> 4. I shouldn't need to alter my
> yum.conf when I upgrade to a new version of FC -- yum should determine
> which version of FC I am running and automatically use the appropriate
> repositories (i.e. if I subscribe to rpm.livna.org when running FC2 and
> then I upgrade to FC3 yum should automatically start using livna's FC3
> repository).

If your repos and your yum.conf are created correctly this is already
done.  That is why the $releasever and $basearch variables exist.

[snip]
> 6. There should be some way of distinguishing
> between a repository that is part of Fedora Core, or Fedora Extras or
> Fedora
> Alternatives.
[snip]

Of course it would be nice to decide what those terms mean and to what
repos they apply first.

-- 
William Hooper