Some notes on Fedora and Mono

[Rahul Sundaram]

On 06/24/2009 12:06 AM, Bryan Lunduke wrote:
> Rahul,
> 
> I appreciate that you're putting some thought into your replies.  
> 
> However.
> 
> You have still not addressed one of the core issues here.  That being
> that work is being done within Fedora to replace existing functionality
> with new software that provides no new functional gain (and is, in fact,
> nothing more than a clone of existing software).

The functional gain as I have already explained is less disk space and
less RAM usage on the Live CD. Remember, since the Live CD already
doesn't include Tomboy for the past couple of releases, the addition of
Gnote brings in the benefit of a nice note taking app by default and
indeed this has been one of the primary motivations in bringing in Gnote
to Fedora.

Just in case, you think I am doing it because of anti Mono FUD or dumb
group thinking as Chris choose to put it, I filed and got a dependency
fixed in Mono only recently
(https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=506917) that will actually
reduce the size of Tomboy dependency.  Fedora has been one of the most
innovative distributions in Linux and that didn't happen via group
thinking. Give us a little bit more credit than that.

> Even if the core development of the application in question is being
> done elsewhere, by individuals not associated directly with Fedora, the
> work involved with testing and packaging is not at all insignificant.
>  The impact on the overall distro is large.

As the Gnote maintainer in Fedora and the one who brought into the
distribution in the first place, I think I am in a better position to
determine the overall impact and I can clearly tell you it isn't as
large as you think it is. Sure, I have had to deal with a few bug
reports but I have a very responsive upstream who even even answered bug
report directly in Red Hat Bugzilla (thanks hub), it has been a pleasure
to bring the Fedora users this application not to mention that I use it
myself along with many of my peers on a daily basis which is a certainly
a good selfish advantage.

> On top of this, statements made by individuals involved with Fedora in
> regards to Mono... all add up to a bit of a PR nightmare for you guys.

Mono has been controversial and not just within Fedora but across the
Free software landscape. There is no denying that. If that controversy
causes so high emotions in Linux Action Show that you are willing to
accuse project members of being deceptive liars or incompetent just
because they choose a single different default , I think it shows more
about the calibre of the people making that claims rather than the
project that the claim is made against.

All I ask is for basic courtesy, decency and thorough ground standing on
facts and based on research while indulging in criticism. I understand
you both are busy people and hence my offer to answer any questions now
and in the future. Engage us in a dialogue or a debate if you will
instead of standing and screaming from a roof top on your own. Unlike
some of proprietary products, the transparency in what we do enables you
to have the opportunity to discuss concerns directly with the decision
makers and other people involved in the project.

I wouldn't be the one to ever claim Fedora Project is free of bugs
(there is no such thing) or that we don't have things we really need to
improve but I am hearing something quite different in your podcasts esp
the last one. Should we improve our QA? Absolutely and you will hear not
just Fedora but every mainstream distribution readily admit that but a
blanket claim that nobody has been able to install Fedora 11 is not a
helpful contribution and is clearly not a factually accurate claim.

This can all be addressed simply enough by making
> formal statements about goals, methods, etc... but as yet this has not
> been done in sufficient form.

As far as the decision of Gnote instead of Tomboy for the Fedora Live
CD, I personally made sure that it was explained in detail at

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_12_Beta_release_notes

Chris was even CC'ed by me in earlier media reports on this.

If you are talking about Fedora project in general, everything is
already out in the open but if you have specific questions, again, I
would be happy to answer them. If you want someone in the Fedora
leadership to answer anything in a interview in a future podcast, let us
know and we will do our best to arrange something.

A few references about goals and methods.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Overview
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/12/FeatureList

Thank you for your understanding.

Rahul