yum RFE

[Garrick Staples]

On Wed, Oct 18, 2006 at 02:16:22PM -0400, Greg DeKoenigsberg alleged:
> 
> 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.

Not that anyone listens to me, but I'd like to go on record to say that
I think this general idea is terrific.  Not only for the newbs, but also
as a useful tool for the experts (so you don't have to go double
checking each new thing).

-- 
Garrick Staples, Linux/HPCC Administrator
University of Southern California
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