Super Repository

[zjimward]

If this is the wrong place to post this please let me know.

Knowing about and using several of the several repositories:

freshrpms, dag, nyquist, atrpms, livna, newrpms and fedora.us

I began thinking about an idea. The idea would be to have one Super repository where all of the above would be combined. Of course, it wouldn't just be for the combination of these repositories, but "the dream" would be to have other developers contribute to the repository also. If not the developer, at least a concerned community. I've ask to contribute RPMs to some of the above, or at least help and never receive responses back. I've also been able to find a lot of RPMs and made my on local repository to install software I like. Okay, so I don't ramble, this is a small piece of what I have in mind. Does any one else see good, bad or have any other comments?

Maybe I'm way off base, but I think this could be a big help if it is a community driven project.

[jrblevin]

This would be great if it could happen, but there are compatibility issues...Currently, dag, dries, freshrpms, newrpms, and atrpms are working to be compatible but may have conflicts with fedora.us and livna (in package names, dependencies, etc.).

Please correct me if I am wrong here, but this is what I have gathered. There is sort of an idealistic rift in that fedora.us strives to be a community project but because of that it is slower to get new packages out and it only carries "mainstream" packages. Dag, freshrpms, etc. are individually (or almost) ran and have many more obscure packages and ones that Fedora can't officially include like xmms-mp3. But because they are individually ran, the rpms are not as well tested as those from fedora.us.

So I believe this is a good idea, but to an extent it is already in progress with projects like DAG"s repository merge at http://dag.wieers.com/home-made/apt/mega-merge.php and Fedora Tracker at http://www.fedoratracker.org/. And then you have the small, specialized repositories like the flash-plugin repo that may jump on the idea of a contribution-based repository or they may prefer to go it alone.

So after my rambling, I think that the central repository would be very difficult to pull off. There seems to be too much disagreement about dependencies and organizational structure. For example, I prefer to use DAG, etc.. but I don't care for the atrpms package that atrpms makes you install with any of their packages. And there are so many kernel packages out there like ccrma that wouldn't really work with in the main repository. It would be a task to find a way to get everyone to come to agreement about this, especially the already established repositories, and make sure things from outside contributors remain compatible with the rest of the packages.

[Bana]

I went ahead and moved this as it is fedora related as a whole.

[zjimward]

This would be some thing that I wouldn't do in conjection with or with the approval of any of the other repositories. fedoratracker itself isn't a repository, but I definitely appreciate them putting a database of all repositories together. One main reason for doing this is a simple yum search or apt to find any useable packages for Fedora. Then it could be installed. I also know that every one has their idea of what great packages should be available.

[foolish]

I agree very much with you, the problem is that the packages have their own thoughts on how things are supposed to be.

Fedora-Extras is supposed to be _the_ place to get packages, and most of the packages are supposed to join in and help the "official" package repository. The only problem with this is that Fedora-Extras isn't here, and it doesn't seem like it will be for some time.

The lack of Fedora-Extras forces the packagers to make a system for their packages without -Extras. It also forces users to get into the habit of using this or that repository. When Fedora-Extras arrives, if it ever does, people will be so used to the current situation that moving them over to -Extras, people includes packages as well as users, will be hard.

Just moving packages over to one repository doesn't help. We need -Extras and we need it as soon as possible. For now, I advice people to use fedora.us and livna.org repositories, as fedora.us will be the base of -Extras some day, and if you get used to using it now, there won't be a switch to something new when -Extras finally shows itself.

[zjimward]

Fedora-Extras does exist, but maybe not in the form of having what every one wants. It definitely doesn't conform to any standard that one can get used to either. My original yum.conf for fc1 was:

http://download.fedora.us/fedora/fedora/$releasever/$basearch/yum/stable

Then when fc2 was released I had to use:

http://download.fedora.us/fedora/fedora/$releasever/$basearch/RPMS.stable

These type of changes don't help people to adjust to using a common repository. I do understand that changes must be made and the new way is easier to follow. The biggest challenge is getting others to submit RPMs to the Extras repository at Fedora.us. Second would be getting the Extras repository added to apt/yum/up2date as a standard part of Fedora. I'm thinking of those that would like to spend their time doing other things under their Linux disto, other than modifying these config files.

Well, thanks for the bounce back of comments and ideas.