[Fedora-packaging] Big revisions to the bundling guidelines incoming

[Matthew Miller]

On Wed, Oct 07, 2015 at 02:41:38PM -0500, Jason L Tibbitts III wrote:
> Just so FPC and everyone else here is aware, FESCo just approved a
> rather significant revision to the bundling guidelines which removes FPC
> from the process entirely.  FPC will need to formulate a new guideline
> for recording upstream interaction but this should be no more than a
> couple of sentences.

That went through somewhat more quickly than I expected, and I'm
surprised that FESCo went for such an open version. I liked the part
about "critical path" packages still requiring exceptions. In thinking
about it, though, I guess in practice most of the existing packages
that would fit that description (whatever exactly it is) either are
already a) well-behaved in this sense to begin with, b) long-ago
debundled, or c) granted an exception already. So maybe the practical
difference isn't large.

I do have a concern about "Provides: bundled(<libname>)" becoming a
mess. We should clarify that:

 * If an existing version of the bundled library exists, use that name
 * New names must follow the rules one would use were the library to
   be packaged separately
 * When in doubt, check with the FPC

I personally also would like to have the guidelines suggest that if
yours is the second (or more) package to bundle a library, to
coordinate with the packager of the previous ones to see if any
progress can be made with collaboration.

> approved proposal.  Most bundling of any type is now permitted in all
> packages, though it appears that FESCo will periodically audit the
> voluntarily added Provides: bundled() tags.

That probably needs some more structure or it won't actually happen.

> I will draft a removal of the current bundling guidelines and their
> replacement with something closely derived from what FPC approved, which
> follows.

Note that this had bold around "must" in the original.... got lost in
translation to plain text. I don't know how much that helps. :)

-- 
Matthew Miller
<mattdm at fedoraproject.org>
Fedora Project Leader