[CentOS-devel] Dealing with unshipped -devel packages in CentOS Linux 8 and CentOS Stream

Fri Apr 3 12:46:25 UTC 2020
Leon Fauster <leonfauster at googlemail.com>

Am 13.03.20 um 17:34 schrieb Brian Stinson:
> Hi Folks,
> 
> We were exploring ways to deal with devel packages that are unshipped
> upstream in RHEL 8, but which are required at build-time in SIG
> deliverables, or for software that you might want to build at home.
> 
> We just pushed the Devel variant to the mirrors, as soon the mirror
> network coalesces, you can find this repository at:
> http://mirror.centos.org/centos/8/Devel, OR
> http://mirror.centos.org/centos/8-Stream/Devel
> 
> We are currently in the process of including a .repo file (disabled by
> default) in centos-release. Look for an update to that soon.
> 
> Special thanks to James Antill, who did most of the compose work on this
> variant.
> 
> Here are some questions that you might have, and some answers:
> 
> ## What is the Devel repo for?
> 
> We envision using the Devel repo for packages that are unshipped in
> CentOS Linux/CentOS Stream but needed for build-time dependencies of
> other packages. Devel is *NOT* meant to satisfy runtime dependencies or
> for long term use on general purpose machines.
> 
> ## How do I use the Devel repo?
> 
> We will soon ship repo files in centos-release-8.1-1.1911.0.9.el8 and
> centos-release-stream-8.1-1.1911.0.9.el8, once those are installed you
> can enable the Devel repo by running:
> 
> dnf config-manager --enable Devel (on CentOS Linux), OR
> 
> dnf config-manager --enable Stream-Devel (on CentOS Stream)
> 
> Reminder: this repo is *not* for general purpose use, and is only
> recommended for buildtime activities only.
> 
> ## How do I ask for an unshipped package to be included in Devel?
> 
> Please file a bug on bugs.centos.org
> Project: CentOS-8
> Category: _unreleased_devel_packages
> 
> Give us a short description of the -devel package that you need, and a
> description of what the -devel package is used to build.
> 
> ## Why do you need to know what the -devel packages are used for?
> 
> We ask for that information to better understand the impact of not
> including them in a normal release artifact. This is an information
> gathering opportunity and is *not* for making inclusion/rejection
> judgements for Devel
> 
> ## Why isn't my package included yet?
> 
> We began with a small subset of requests to test our compose and
> delivery configs. We plan to close out bugs that are fixed with this
> push shortly, and then process the rest of the queue. Stay tuned to your
> open bugs if you have them.
> 
> ## Why not include *all* unshipped components in Devel?
> 
> One reason is that we want to gather impact information that we can
> communicate upstream.
> 
> More importantly, Red Hat has decided that these unshipped packages are
> lower in bugfix/update priority compared to the ones that made it into
> RHEL. In very limited cases, we may not see updates to such packages
> through the usual source-drop process, we need to maintain a list so
> that the CentOS team can monitor those packages more closely.


I didn't check that but "most" unshipped packages have corresponding 
parts shipped. This applies mostly for all -devel packages. So if they 
get updates the build process also gives new unshipped packages out.

But my actually questions is: There are already some bug reports under 
_unreleased_devel_packages. Whats the average time to see such packages 
in the Devel repo?

And can this repo also have feed unter https://feeds.centos.org/ ?

--
Thanks for this effort!
Leon