On 6/1/07, Jason Chu <jason@archlinux.org> wrote:
On Thu, May 31, 2007 at 02:14:59PM -0500, Aaron Griffin wrote:
On 5/31/07, Jason Chu <jason@archlinux.org> wrote:
On Thu, May 31, 2007 at 12:13:38PM -0500, Aaron Griffin wrote:
On 5/31/07, Jason Chu <jason@archlinux.org> wrote:
On Thu, May 31, 2007 at 09:51:03AM -0500, Aaron Griffin wrote:
On 5/31/07, Dan McGee <dpmcgee@gmail.com> wrote: > On 5/18/07, Aaron Griffin <aaronmgriffin@gmail.com> wrote: > > http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Package_Cleanup > > > > So the initial burst made a smallish dent, but there's still a lot > > more to do, which I'd like to get to this weekend. If anyone want to > > help out, that'd be great. In addition, please voice your opinions > > about a few things (I haven't heard a lot of developers talk about > > this, so I've left it alone: > > > > * Move desktop related stuff to extra? (possibly keep only xorg in current?) > > * Move wireless/network modules to current? (they're that important IMO) > > * Rename current to "core" ? > > * Anything else? > > I just wanted to say well done on this, Aaron, for taking the > initiative and doing it. Here are the current repo sizes and changes > from my original counts: > Current: 557 (-6 packages) > Extra: 1905 (-114 packages) > Community: 1486 (+289 packages) > > As you can see, some of the burden has shifted which is a good thing in my eyes.
In addition there is a community cleanup initiative going on, which should kill off the stagnant packages there too.
> Do we need to go anywhere with the above stuff, such as moving some > desktop apps out of current, etc.? It may allow them to be built with > a more complete feature set than they are when put in current.
That's the next step, and I tried to keep from doing the "big" moves right away. We'll call that "part 3" - the moving of desktop stuff from current to extra, BUT no one seems to have chimed in. So, if no one speaks up, I'm going to assume it's ok to move all desktop stuff to extra? Except, perhaps, xorg (and related packages) itself?
Why xorg? What's the use having xorg in current if nothing else can use it? Isn't that a pretty good argument for having it outside of current? The whole cross-repo dependencies...
Umm, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of packages which depend on "up level" packages. For instance, glibc is in current. The reason I feel that xorg should stay in current is more-or-less that it's as important, to a desktop install, as the kernel and glibc and the like.
That just means that current becomes core, doesn't it?
I replied to you wiki response about core a little while ago: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Core_Packages
There's some cross talk here. This isn't the "core" stuff per-se, it's just cleaning things up and putting them where they belong, not trying to carve out a distinctive set of packages.
I think my problem is that I still don't know the differences between this "core" repository and moving all the desktop stuff out of current.
I still don't know what "core" is supposed to mean, so to me it sounds like putting packages where they belong is the same thing as creating a core repository.
Hmmm well, the way I think of it. Moving desktop stuff to extra just seems "appropriate". We've discussed, maybe 20 times or so, that the line between current and extra makes no sense anymore. Current was intended to be "one of everything that we can fit on a CD" and that's moot now (squashfs can give you me a 350MB full arch install in a 115MB ISO - squash-lzma is even better, I think I got the same install down to around 90MB or so). Also, confining the repo due to size just seems silly now. We have no real reigning criteria for what makes current "current", so that's where this is heading.
The moving of desktop stuff to extra is an effort to "define" what the current repo is. Regarding the "core" stuff, I had said a few times - completely ignore that page - forget it exists. The intent of the core repo thing is totally different, but with, potentially, a similar end result.
Ok, so I'm trying to ignore the core stuff. Ignoring that, what is the definition of current? So far I've seen "not desktop apps". Does that mean console apps are ok? Bluetooth libs? Is cdparanoia a desktop app even though it's not graphical? Is cups really a desktop app? I'm just as likely to use it on a print server... Fetchmail isn't graphical at all, but you could argue that reading email is a desktop use.
I don't know what your definition is, so the choices seem arbitrary.
The entire list and little voting system in there was done with the specific intent of defining current - that's just the thing, no one knows what it should be. You bring up cups - it's on the list sure, but look at the unofficial vote thing - consensus says is stays in current (2 to 18 for moving to extra). Apache as well. I'm not using my feelings or even asking specific people what they think - interested parties went to that page and said "I am an arch user and this is how I feel about this package" - it's a feeling-out, and it appears that things like enlightenment should move to extra (17 to 0 vote) according to those interested in the topic (obviously, uninterested parties don't add to the page, and if they're uninterested it means it doesn't matter where the packages are to them).
It also doesn't help that the wiki page says, "Allow "current" to be a more core set of packages that are crucial to the distribution".
It's a wiki, feel free to delete that if it makes it unclear - or feel free to document it further.
I'm also a little afraid of moving packages without fully knowing the ramifications of the changes. Makedepends and all that. If pyrex were moved to community, orca (part of gnome-extra) would also have to go, for example. I didn't see that mentioned anywhere on the wiki page (till I added it).
You are aware that I've checked these things before for 90% of the packages I've moved, right? I actually have a list of packages on my desk at home that has 20 or so packages, all crossed off, except for pyrex - I do check these things, it's not haphazard.