http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/TomCallaway/SecondaryArchitectures

[Manas Saksena]

Oliver Falk wrote:
> Hi Manas!

Hi Oliver -- thanks for your response.

>> Second, can secondary architectures go beyond the primary architectures
>> in terms of feature support? For e.g., can a secondary architecture
>> include a cross-compiler toolchain?
> 
> Only if you do the usual package review process and it lands on fp.o CVS.
> 
>> Along the same lines, can secondary architectures have modified spec
>> files that go beyond fixing build/run-time issues. For e.g., can a
>> secondary architecture take a large package and further split it into
>> more granular subsets for the purpose of better footprint control.
> 
> No. Everything that is built, uis checked-out via CVS from fp.o CVS. If
> you want to modify a spec, you need to talk with the package maintainer...

I understand. We can certainly do this outside of Fedora, and
probably will. I just wanted clarification on that.

The idea that I am pursuing is of "derivative distributions" that:

-- derive sources/spec files from Fedora whenever appropriate
-- customizes sources/spec file per the needs of the derivative distro's
    audience
	-- e.g., if I am building am ARM distro for my wireless access
	   point. Not all Fedora packaging rules may make sense for me.

Note that this is a step beyond what the current Fedora "compose tools"
allow (revisor etc.) -- in that we need to modify at the source level &
rebuild. Not just pick a subset of the pre-built packages, and then do
some post-processing on it.

This is a real need. In the embedded space, pretty much every device has
its own custom distribution. These tend to be created in all kinds of
ways -- many of them lacking any kind of rigor that you see in distros
like Fedora.

For the curious, you may want to take a look at Sony's GPL download
site as an example -- which has the packages that it puts in its
various consumer devices (cameras, videocams, mylo, and many others..).

http://www.sony.net/Products/Linux/Download/search.html

It would be useful if in the future this use case is explicitly
considered and supported through the Fedora infrastructure and tools
(e.g., using a distributed VCS) that allows users to leverage the base
Fedora distribution and customize from there.

Regards,
Manas

ps:

Note that this is not a secondary architecture issue, per se. From what
I can tell, the OLPC-Fedora distribution is already doing this within
the Fedora infrastructure.