yum RFE

[Greg DeKoenigsberg]

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006, Jesse Keating wrote:

> On Wednesday 18 October 2006 13:06, Alan Cox wrote:
> > You mean when it overwrites base packages and breaks stuff ?
> 
> Then should setup road blocks to using rpm?  To adding repos at all?  To 
> writing as root?  The user had taken the step to add something which did NOT 
> come with his/her installation.  Adding a NON "supported" repo.  From that 
> point on, they're in the "on your own" land, and I'm perfectly happy with 
> their system getting eaten alive.  There is a REASON we don't include those 
> repos.  Setting up more (easily removable for those that know) roadblocks 
> will do nothing more than confuse the user even more, and create more 
> hostility toward the 3rd party packagers.

Jesse, I just don't think it's that simple.

It's easy for us to state, as policy, that "if you wander off the path, 
Fedora will eat your babies."

But *a lot* of people still take that risk when they don't understand the 
risks they're taking.  At all.

I'm certainly not in favor of adding lots of arbitrary complexity to 
prevent people from using 3rd party repos.  But here's the thing: it's 
also *entirely* possible to use 3rd party repos that don't overwrite core.  
Over time, there may be many more of these.  Why not enable the 
functionality that tells users, one last time:

"The operation you're about to perform will replace a core package.  This
could make it more difficult to maintain your system.  If you're *sure*
you want to do this, edit foo and change bar to baz."

I believe that could help users -- users that are currently struggling to 
understand the trade-offs between using straight Fedora and Fedora+3rd 
parties.  But I don't believe it does anything to damage the reputations 
of 3rd party packagers.

--g

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Greg DeKoenigsberg || Fedora Project || fedoraproject.org
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