On Fri, 2005-06-03 at 09:47, Robin Laing wrote:
The real problem is that the 3rd party repositories (freshrpms, DAG, etc.) existed long before the fedora project, providing updates for RH versions that otherwise would have required a subscription to obtain automatically along with additional packages. Then the fedora repository used different conventions. If the 3rd party sites change conventions, their existing users will at best have to download everything touched again and at worst, have broken systems.
I do agree with you to a point.
But with a new release (FC4), why not support the newer version as the main site.
There are systems around that have been 'yum upgrade'ed from a RH 7.x base. It's not supported or recommended, but people have their reasons for doing it.
Any third party site could (should) work with the distribution method of the release and work as seamlessly as possible. They should also try to work together as some are so they don't duplicate packages and/or their packages are mutually compatible.
That implies a single point of control, which can't really happen and would not be a good thing if it did.
It is a pain to install from one repository only to find that you cannot update from a different repository or even from the fedora core site. This is one of those issues about multiple repositories that has burned me. No site should require the installation of a package that prevents the upgrading from another site.
Agreed, but what if a package you want needs a core library rebuilt with different compile options that make it incompatible with other packages.
In general, I prefer the move to Extras as it makes it easier for a basic install. Then use yum or preferred method to install the packages wanted.
As long as nothing needs conflicting options and the contents you want have no legal questions in any location...