[arch-dev-public] The core of Arch Linux - repo reorganization

[Dan McGee]

On 7/10/07, Pierre Schmitz <pierre at archlinux.de> wrote:
> The problem:
>
> We have two official repositories: [current] and [extra]. Historically
> [current] should fit on a cd-r and includes packages preferred by Judd (and
> maybe some other "early" devs). [extra] should include everything else.
>
> Today nobody really know why a package is in current or extra. In addition to
> this we have some dependencies from current into extra and some non-free
> packages in current. This makes distribution on a cd/dvd quite difficult.
>
> Any last but not least: There is no easy way to install packages from a cd
> after the system is set up. So I do not think we need to worry about cd-r
> size.

The only worry is whether [core] from below can fit- if that is ever a
problem, then we have bigger problems. :)

> The solution:
>
> Imho the only solution is to drop those repos and set up new ones with a clear
> definition what should be included. This is only a fist proposal. A concrete
> package list has to be worked out later.

<snip>

> Step by step:
>
> 1) decide which packages should be in the [core] repo
>    (check dependencies etc.)
> 2) move everything else into extra
> 3) cleanup extra; move packages into non-free, community or even aur
> 4) make sure there are no broken dependencies (including makedepends). It
>    should look like this:
>         [core] <- [extra]
>           ^----------^----[non-free]
>           ^----------^----[unstable]
>           ^----------^----[community]
>
> Ok this is only a first proof of concept and a lot of work has to be done; bu
> what do you think of this idea?

The above idea seems very logical. I do worry about extra getting a
bit large, but we can do something about splitting that later. My only
concern rests with the strict dependency tree. I agree that no package
in core should depend or makedepend on anything outside of that repo.
However, I feel like packages in the other repos could makedepend (but
NOT depend) on repos below them in the hierarchy as long as it is
clearly noted in the PKGBUILD. This is similar to what Thomas said in
his reply.

+1

-Dan