libxml v1 dependencies (was: Re: multilib fun - devel packages)

[Ralf Corsepius]

On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 22:24 -0500, Jeff Spaleta wrote:
> On 12/15/05, Jesse Keating <jkeating at j2solutions.net> wrote:
> > Things have to change.  The question is do we do it now or later?

> Extras NEEDS "freeze" points 
Why?

What, in your opinion, qualifies "FC+updates" as "non-rolling" and 
FE as "rolling"? Except that some FE packages occasionally break on
shared libraries, I don't see a basic difference between both of them.

> or you are asking volunteers
> to do the impossible.
Being one of these volunteers, I have to tell you that for non-RH'ers,
the actual current problems in maintaining FE packages isn't Extras'
packages "rolling" or "Core vs. Extras", but are completely different
(In priority-sorted order):

1. Rawhide volatility/instability/rolling
2. FE's buildsystem stability/reliability/usability
3. FE's package submission/maintenance infrastructure 
4. Cooperation/coordination between RH and FE.
5. Absence of leadership/guidance.
...

> Define what Core is suppose to be
> Define what Extras is suppose to be
> Define what the Core+Extras relationshiop is suppose to be
> Build policies and infrastructure to support that relationship.
> THEN start moving things around in the framework of that relatonship.

Well, whether you like it or not, from a volunteer's point of view, this
topic actually is quite trivial: "Core is the God-sent foundation", you
build your house (your contributed packages to Extra) on top.
Anything concerning Core is out of your control, it is God-sent.

Similar considerations apply to "ordinary users": Once you have accepted
the fact FE exists (Which apparently is a problem for some), it doesn't
really matter if a package is in Core or Extras.
The only thing that matters is "the package you are looking for is
present and works sufficiently well". 

Also, the "how many CDs problems" isn't an actual problem to many users.
All you typically need is a possibility to boot a minimial
installation/upgrade (Which normally means one CD or network install
bootloader), anything else is being pulled from the net afterwards.
This applies to Core as well as to Extras (without having looked into
the details, I would estimate at least 50% of all packages from the
original FC4 release meanwhile have been updated).

Ralf