amd64 Fedora Core

[Gene C.]

Justin has raised an interesting question on his weblog concerning Fedora core 
and the amd64-- should developers waste time on FC1 x86_64 or put their 
efforts into FC2 which will be available "real soon now"?

I can see arguments for both situations but I wonder what other amd64 users 
think.

1. With limited developer resources and FC2 test2 about two weeks away (it 
will have a x86_64 snapshot with needed i386 packages), the better option is 
to put the resources into getting FC2 "right".  With the test1 snapshot as a 
base and all of the package updates in development, the x86_64 versions 
should be in pretty good shape.  Furthermore, the Red Hat build process is 
set up to handle x86_64 builds for development (and FC2 Test2) whereas x86_64 
updated packages are few and far between.  When the test2 snapshot rolls out, 
x86_64 updates will be available as a matter of course (or at least that is 
the plan).

2.  At the current time, FC1 is more stable (especially with all of the 
updates applied) than the current state of FC2 (as could be expected since 
FC2 is still in development and testing).  In addition, it is not at all 
difficult to rebuild the ix86 packages for the x86_64 (I have done this for 
the current set of updates).  FC1 test1 + updates is a fairly stable platform 
and should be pretty close to what would be available if FC1 x86_64 final was 
released.

So, work on getting FC2 with varying stability (there will be problems) or put 
time in to roll out a FC1 x86_64 final? At the present time, I lean toward 
option 1.  I do have a working FC1 test1 plus all updates so the release of 
the FC2 x86_64 final will be of little value to me except to do testing for 
the community.

I have built all of the ix86 updated packages (as applicable) and even include 
mozilla 1.6 from development to provide a 64 bit mozilla.  Together with some 
others who are interested in a FC1 x86_64 system, I could make the rebuilt 
packages available on a "it works for me but use at your own risk" basis.

Comments?
-- 
Gene