Rahul Sundaram wrote:
Robin Laing wrote:
I can agree that a major change could be a real headache but if the
changes are grouped, lets say the move to PATA as part of the kernel
upgrade, then most applications can be updated at the same time. Now,
I remember doing a kde update that was massive so why not a change
like that. There is still the testing branch to work things out on.
Not many people are prepared to help out and provide feedback in
updates-testing. Have you on a regular basis? A KDE update is small
potatoes compared to other fundamental changes we are making with every
release. Some of them like in GCC or Glibc requires rebuilding every
single component in the distribution. If you want such massive changes
as updates within the same release, you might as well as be running the
Fedora development tree.
Now this is a way I never thought of. I do remember issues with
changing gcc in the past and maybe there is a way to have a
compatibility package to ensure older applications keep working. There
was a *compat package in the past to do this.
Is the present system a deal breaker for Fedora? With the loss of
legacy support for older versions, it is looking more and more that it
could be.
I don't consider it a deal breaker but a rolling release model with
major changes now and then is just too problematic if you want a
somewhat robust release. A slightly longer updates cycle might have been
better as I said elsewhere before. Fedora updates lifetime has increased
updates lifecyle to two releases. That means previously FC4 received
main updates till FC6 test 2 was released. Now when F7 is released, it
would get updates until F9 is releases which is from about 9 months to
about 13 months. That gives you the ability to completely skip one
release. If you want a longer lifecycle, you are free to get involved
and help.
Rahul
I hope to help more when I have time. I do download some test packages
and I report any bugs that I find. One is the change on the USB "safe
to remove" message that is in FC6 after trashing the file system on my
USB stick.
I also want to start running the next version as a test mode. I am in
the process of setting up my home computer for this purpose with an
interchangeable HD. I do have to be careful as I also have to keep it
running with many applications for all the things I do and want to do on
it. Many that are not supplied by Core or extras. I wish I could
afford a third and forth computer. :)
I wish I could do more.
--
Robin Laing
