RFE: Retire Fedora Core 4 only _after_ FC6 has been released.

[Jeff Spaleta]

On 1/18/06, n0dalus <n0dalus+redhat at gmail.com> wrote:
> Would it be possible for redhat to just extend security fixes for FCx
> until FC(x+2) comes out? I think if I was using an older release this
> is something I would really want.

What part of fedoralegacy.org's mission do you not understand?
Legacy exists as a community effort precisely to "extend" security
fixes past the point where RedHat feels comfortable extending
resources for the effort.
Why does redhat need to do this work?
Why can't we trust the community to take on the mission of "extended"
security fixes?

If anything the only problem we have is by default there is no
provided mechanism to transition to legacy maintainership for those
users who want to continue using their EOL'd Fedora releases. Nor do
we have an in distro mechanism to warn users about EOL. Basically
right now we rely on the fact that people who install a Fedora release
are going to go out of their way to read something concerning EOL
policy... a foolish dream of enduser documentation literacy.

Maintaining multiple releases without adding more manhours to the
effort can be a burden, especially when release components age over a
year and more effort has to be used to create backports instead of
tracking upstream closely.  The solution isn't to ask RedHat employees
to do more, for longer. The solution is to get community involvement
into the maintainership process to spread the workload around to those
in the community who care enough to volunteer their time to help in
the maintainership effort.  Fedora Legacy is the available
implementation for users who do not want to upgrade with every fedora
release.  If this is going to be a community project, then the
community must take responsibility for aspects of the maintainership
burden that RedHat has said they can not contribute. If this is going
to be a credible community project, then users in the community must
be willing to trust other community members who are outside the RedHat
fenceline to provide that legacy updates.

I think the only real questions involve how can users be better
notified of impending EOL status so they can make an informed choice
as to whether to upgrade or to use legacy updates.  And once notified,
how can the transition be made smoother?

-jef"Fedora needs an analog to my car's 'check engine' light to inform
me of impending EOL"spaleta