Fedora Extras, Fedora Core CVS Open!

[Jeff Spaleta]

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 13:33:27 +0800, Jeff Pitman <symbiont at berlios.de> wrote:
> Can we download this and setup a local build system so we can contribute
> patches and system-level recommendations instead of using ethereal
> generics?  Would Redhat/Fedora be willing to open this up?

Not unreasonable questions.  I very much want to be able to create a
local mock up of parts of the build process just so i can brutalize it
with very very bad spec files (the only ones i know how to make) and
watch how things break.  I have every hope that all of the automation
will be peer-reviewable so community experience will be able to
enhance the process once the initial buildsysstem is up. Remember to
ask this question again in late january and you might get an official
sounding answer.


> Most third party packagers have scripted up some systems to help in the
> build, web page generation, and distribution of packages.  But, each
> are very customized for each repo.  I'm certain these individuals can
> provide direct input on the system from a patch standpoint if a
> specific project were available for local test.

> That said, my repo is not "compliant" with all the Fedora policies
> because it uses a structure that allows for multiple versions of Python
> on the same system.  It's almost like Fedora Alternatives combined with
> Fedora Extras.

Without commenting on specific technical details, because I am not
qualified to do so....
I do think you are right in that a lot of niche repos do have very
customized setups that have grown-up as locally built solutions to
provide buildsystem. While I'm sure yours is artistically exotic in
its own right, i doubt its the most byzantine of the species and i
expect a lot of contributors to be faced with interesting special
needs that the Fedora build system needs to try to accomedate to make
it easier for that contributor to use both their local system and the
fedora build system with minimal pain. But i dont expect it to be a
zero-pain process getting there.  And the sooner contributors get
involved..even with a single package...the sooner there will be a body
of people with common experience using the same build system and can
start suggesting ways to make it more compatible with their local
build systems while at the same time they make changes to their local
build systems as well.  I sort of expect this process to require
everybody to try to meet half way. Both local build systems and the
fedora build system will have to evolve with based on experience
trying to interact as more and more contributors try to use the fedora
system.

> My biggest hang ups will be package naming conventions. I would presume
> that not many care about multi-python on the Extras side of the fence,
> and therefore, a "python23" name would become "python".  I have
> sufficient macros to deal with this, but it'd be nice to pipe this
> stuff through a build system locally before digging in on Redhat hosted
> infrastructure.

I'm not really sure if there will be a need for local prep to this
extent... it very much depends on the specifics of the fedora
buildsystem and how it interacts with the cvs server. And as the
annoucements over the last day or so have said... now that the cvs
server is up... the buildsystem specifics are now the target by fedora
leadership effort.

-jef