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On Tue, 2004-02-03 at 15:36, Kurt Lieber wrote: |
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|
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> If you were given the choice between: |
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> |
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> 1) A more robust QA process for the main portage tree or |
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> 2) A seperate 'server' portage tree that offered: |
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> * only updated quarterly |
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> * security and major bug-fixes off-cycle, but no other changes to the |
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> tree |
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> * guaranteed minimum life of all ebuilds in the tree |
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> |
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> Which would you find more valuable and why? |
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> |
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> --kurt |
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In my opinion both options, if executed in a manner that makes sense, |
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would help make Gentoo a better option for more people to use it in a |
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server environment. |
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|
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I love the way things are constantly updated, not having to wait for my |
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Linux distribution to release an upgrade in order to get the 'cool' new |
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packages (such as when Gnome or KDE release new versions). Also the |
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fact that releases don't mean anything once the system is installed is |
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very nice - mostly for my desktop and laptop machines though. |
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|
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For servers, I think the second option is a very good idea. This would |
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make it easier for people to update their software for security's sake |
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without having to update world or pick and choose what to update (making |
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it easy for people to miss packages that should be updated because of a |
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serious flaw. |
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|
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I do have a couple more thoughts that could be built onto #2: |
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|
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1. Make it easy for people to be able to stick with certain older |
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packages that they may be required to use, such as Apache 1.x vs. |
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Apache2. |
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|
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2. I don't know how difficult this would be (or how much sense it might |
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make to others), but maybe it would be possible for people not to have |
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to immediately upgrade to the quarterly release and still be able to get |
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the security and major bug fixes. Possibly keep each quarter's release |
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for a year - 2004.1, 2004.2 and so on. Maintain the three previous |
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trees that aren't current with the security and major flaw fixes and |
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retire them after a year. (This is just an idea I just came up with |
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after reading Kurt's email, just throwing it out here to invoke |
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thought). |
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|
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3. Maintain some sort of web page or something with the planned package |
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upgrades that will happen in the next quarter's release and what they |
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might mean people will have to do after it's upgraded (such as changes |
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in where files are located or major changes in config files). |
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|
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I'll finish this email by stating that I *love* Gentoo and am glad to |
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see that it's always improving (I've just crossed the one-year mark of |
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it being the main distro that I use). |
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|
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-- |
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joe sleeper |
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freenode irc nick - jsleeper |