Screensvers on FC4

[Jeff Vian]

On Thu, 2005-08-04 at 14:10 -0400, Robert Locke wrote:
> On Thu, 2005-08-04 at 13:23 -0400, Harol Hunter wrote:
> > Reading the messages of the list I found out how to install Screensacers 
> > on my FC4 so after the
> > # yum list "*screensaver*"
> > 
> > Setting up repositories
> > extras                    100% |=========================| 1.1 kB    00:00
> > base                      100% |=========================| 1.1 kB    00:00
> > updates-released          100% |=========================|  951 B    00:00
> > Reading repository metadata in from local files
> > Installed Packages
> > xscreensaver-base.i386                   1:4.21-4               installed
> > Available Packages
> > xscreensaver-extras.i386                 1:4.21-4               base
> > xscreensaver-gl-extras.i386              1:4.21-4               base
> > 
> > I did
> > # yum install "*screensaver*"
> > I realize that those packages actually weren't on fedora extras repo 
> > site even when they appears on filelist.xml
> > 
> > Can anybody tell why were they removed from the repo?
> > 
> > I'll preciate your help
> 
> I think you may be confusing the output of the list command.  The
> "extras" is just a part of the package name, not a reference to the repo
> that contains it.  The repo is in the final column and declares that
> both of those packages are in the "base" distribution, i.e. on the
> original CDs.  So the fact is that they were simply not installed when
> FC was installed on that system perhaps through some choice of your own
> when customizing the packages to be installed, though I would surmise
> that the reason the "name" of the package has the phrase "extras", that
> they are not installed "by default"....
> 
> --Rob
> 
> 

The xscreensaver-extras and xscreensaver-gl-extra packages appear to not
be installed unless you do an "everything" install, or select them
individually.

I had to install them myself on my machine, and I have since done 2 more
installs and could find no place in the package list to select them.

I assume they decided not to install the xscreensaver-extras package by
default because of the security issues with some of the screensavers
that display the screen contents, just munging it in several different
ways.  Some sites are very security conscious and those type of
screensavers cannot be used. (Can you say government and defense
contractors (among others)?) 

Similarly there is an issue with having the xscreensaver-gl-extras
package installed when the video system does not support gl.  It can and
often does cause lockups if the gl screensavers are used without
support.