Update patches versus full update RPM.

[Lamar Owen]

On Friday 09 January 2004 10:28 am, Simon Perreault wrote:
> On January 9, 2004 10:20, Lamar Owen wrote:
> > So, lobby the developers
> > if you are interested in seeing patch RPMs instead of full updates
> > developed and deployed.  The best place to pester developers is on the
> > fedora-devel list.

> You're not going to gain anything by pestering the developers. In fact,
> you're doing quite the opposite: now everyone will snob your idea. Good for
> you.

Good grief.  Is the community really this petty?  Are endusers not allowed to 
lobby developers for features that users would find useful?  Should 
developers be out of reach of user concerns?  

I have enough experience in the PostgreSQL community to see that user 
comments, funding proposals, and even pestering (when it's not carried too 
far) are excellent tools for the userbase to communicate their needs, 
particularly when the feature might be somewhat painful for the developer.

As for me, well, if I decide the feature is worth it for me, I can write the 
code for both ends.  I have no current personal motivation to do it, and I'm 
not the developer of the programs in question, and (most importantly) it 
isn't in my department's budget (so if I did it it would be on my already 
stretched personal time). If it were of enough interest for us, and passed 
the budget process, I would have no problem paying for the feature to be 
added.  Even if I had it written and tested it would still have to go through 
the developer, and through all the comments I already have gotten.

For what it's worth, SuSE is doing this already in production.
-- 
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC  28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu