Rolling release Fedora - fantastic idea

[Andrew Wyatt]

I read the list thread concerning a Fedora rolling release distribution, 
and I found it interesting enough to compel me to join the list and 
weigh in.

First, I think a rolling release Fedora is a fantastic idea.  I'm 
certain that it's possible, since I've been pulling packages from 15, 
16, and Rawhide downstream to Fuduntu which still has a lot of 14 left 
at it's core with much success.

Some potential reasons why it would be a good idea..  A lot of us don't 
like to risk a major upgrade every 6 months to a year, or reinstall.  We 
can always save a dump of rpms, and not format /home but still, that's a 
lot of unnecessary work.  If you aren't in a position to do a full 
backup (right or wrong) it becomes even more of a challenge.

It's also very convenient to upgrade to Firefox 9 for example without 
having to go to Remi, or spend hours upgrading everything.  If it rolls, 
everything gets upgraded over time.  Huge convenience factor here.

I just pulled LibreOffice 3.4.4 from Fedora 16 down to Fuduntu.  I'm 
also shipping Firefox 9.

If you were interested in going forward with a rolling release model, 
your community is large enough that it doesn't have to be your core 
product.  It could though be the foundation for your core product.

I'd recommend continuing your release cycle, shifting to rolling Fedora, 
and point release from that.

Rawhide IMHO is "rolling", but it's also very unstable, as you all well 
know.

The idea thrown out there that discussed using a waterfall repository 
method is solid, we have been doing it for over year now.

Development, Rawhide - done.

Testing - Reasonably stable, packages promoted from development when 
they are ready.

Stable - After you have tested the packages with a reasonably wide 
audience, promote them to stable.

Point in time release from your stable repository as Fedora 17, 18, 19.  
This model been working for us for a short while now.

You guys are already set up for success, IMHO much more so than some of 
the other distributions out there.  That's why I chose to base off of 
it.  Are we doing some things wrong?  Definitely, but we are also doing 
some things well enough to know that Fedora would be wildly successful 
with a rolling release.

As for the comments about users upset that they suddenly get GNOME 3 via 
a rolling upgrade, that's a communications issue and also what spins and 
remixes are for.

That is my $.02.  I really hope to see Fedora go this route, but if 
Fedora decides to stick to the current release model (which is already 
excellent) those that want an RPM based rolling release are welcome to 
come help out at Fuduntu. :D