A minimal subset of python (was Re: [@core] working definition for the minimal package set)

[David Malcolm]

On Mon, 2012-11-12 at 11:28 -0500, Matthew Miller wrote:
> Okay, cool -- there's a lot of enthusiasm for a SIG for the core package
> set.
> 
> So, first up on the SIG goals: clarifying our target.
> 
> It's been suggested before that there's so many possibilities that this is
> useless, but the point here is to *pick* a reasonable choice as a group and
> to work with that (even if we can't get complete consensus). Then, later,
> when someone says "but minimal could mean so many differen things!" we
> simply say "sure, but *this* is what we mean".
> 
> I see three basic options for the target:
> 
>  A) kernel + init system and we're done
>  B) "boot to yum (with network)": a text-mode bootstrap environment on which
>     other things can be added by hand (or by kickstart)
>  C) a traditional Unix command line environment with the expected basic
>     tools available
> 
> To me, 'C' is too wide for two reasons. First, it's too open for continual
> debate, because different people might expect different tools. Second, it's
> not necessarily the right base for the rest of the distribution, because
> many use cases might not really need that traditional Unix environment.
> 
> I think 'A' is interesting and useful, but I don't think it should be our
> target, because it's not *useful enough*. We may want to eventually define a
> sub-group which covers just this tiny base (maybe with busybox?), but I
> think that's a different project.
> 
> So that leaves me at *mostly B*, although I have some sympathy to the idea
> that we should include a few other things like a man page reader, since
> we're installing man pages, and a way to deliver e-mail to root, since we're
> installing things that send such mail. And I think the core environment
> should include ssh, but I'm open to the idea that even that should be an
> add-on.

If we're targeting "yum" as core functionality, that implies a subset of
Python: enough to run yum at least, but probably not much more.

This ties into https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=867962 which
I'd prefer to solve by introducing a "python-core" package.  I've heard
complaints from upstream that no-one can know what the "python" package
means on any given distribution (everyone splits it out in slightly
different ways).  Fixing that suggests that the "python" package should
become a metapackage that brings in everything built from the python
tarball.

If we go down this route, say in Fedora 19, then let's introduce a
"python-core" or somesuch, and define it loosely to be "whatever yum
needs in the minimal environment".

Does this sound sane? (especially from the POV of yum developers)  What
does yum need?

Dave