Package Maintainers Flags policy

Toshio Kuratomi a.badger at gmail.com
Tue May 19 21:23:33 UTC 2009


On 05/19/2009 02:08 PM, Bill Nottingham wrote:
> Till Maas (opensource at till.name) said:
>>> There is an easier option 3, which is no flags in Fedora period,
>>> regardless of what spin.  Far easier to implement.
>> This is not easier for package maintainers who want to maintain a package in
>> Fedora that contains flags, because additional work has to be done by the
>> package maintainer. Adding some flag to the spec that indicates that the
>> package contains political flags is a log easier.
>
> We carry patches all the time, and if people can't manage to apply patches
> to their packages when necessary, then co-maintainers may be in order.
> And I'll be willing to pitch into help fix things that need fixing.
>
> (drifiting afield from this specific issue now, but it's related)
>
> And really... it's not about being 'easier for package maintainers'. I'm
> really tired of hearing that trope applied any time any sort of policy
> is applied or suggested, whether it be:
>
> - not having flags in packages
> - having actual update notes in bodhi (or even using bodhi at all)
> - not pushing new libraries to every release immediately
> - not cursing out your fellow developers
>
> The entire point of joining a community like Fedora is to work together
> towards some common goals.
>
> To suggest as prima facie evidence that anything that makes things not
> as easy for packagers is bad implies a view where the package maintainer
> feels that his needs, his preferred workflow, or his convenience somehow
> supercedes the needs of the project itself, or the needs of its users.
>
> Frankly, such an attitude is just wrong. It smacks of elitism and an
> overinflated sense of ego. In the context of the project, none of us is more
> important than the project itself. Sometimes you have to do *actual work*
> that can't be reduced to a three line perl script; it's part of pitching in
> towards something greater than yourself. And in the grand scheme of things,
> I'd suggest that a billion potential users and contributors far outweighs
> the convenience of a few packagers (really, this will affect only a
> small number of packagers, anyway.)
>
I agree with this sentiment 100%.  We're here to make better packages, 
not whine about how making better packages is hard.  However, I'd point 
out that in this specifc case Jesse raised the "easier" argument and 
Till was just replying to that.

-Toshio




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