Thanks for the thoughtful comments, though I think they would be better made as individual emails to the people that run these sites. I
True, but there are a lot of one man efforts that don't go anywhere, so I'd like to get some feedback from others in the fedora community on this topic.
1) I think there are times when downloading and installing a package is fine, even preferable to using a repository. One example is when there are no dependancies issues and there is no expectation that the user will be installing other packages from that repo often.
No. Many times there are minor upgrades to a package to fix packaging errors. This is the power of repositories, and shouldn't be overlooked.
Package upgrades, interaction with packager about packaging bugs (not app bugs, since that should be taken to the upstream developers).
Adding repositories unnescessarily to your apt/yum config files just increases the the number of headers to be dealt with, taking up time and disk space. I think a document on the subject should keep this in mind.
The only drawback I can see is if repositories get mixed without priorities setup (only apt supports this AFAIK).
Here is my /etc/apt/preferences file: Package: * Pin: release a=Fedora Linux Freshrpms Pin-Priority: 600
Package: * Pin: release c=dag Pin-Priority: 610
Package: * Pin: release o=Livna.org Pin-Priority: 1800
Package: * Pin: release l=Fedora Extras, a=stable Pin-Priority: 1850
If package abc is in "Fedora Extras" and any other repository, it will only use the "Fedora Extras" package. This should keep repository mixing from happening for the most part.
Repository use, and especially repository prioritization (if you use more than Fedora Extras and Livana) needs to be emphasized.
2) I run fedoratracker.org, the goal of which is to make searching and using fedora apt/yum repositories more practical. If you want to draft a document like the one you describe and it turns out well then if no one from a more authoritative site offers to I can link it from my 'resources' page.
Thanks
Mike
