[CentOS-mirror] Thoughts on DVD images

[Jim Kusznir]

Hi all:

I've been following the whole DVD iso access questions and such for a
while, and while talking to some people on #centos-mirror during the
5.5 push, some thoughts occurred to me.

Presently, it is my understanding that there are two different repos
maintained: ones with dvd images, and ones without.  This seems
needlessly painful and wasteful of the time and resources of our
dedicated Centos volunteer administrators.  I understand at least some
of the reasons it exists: there are some mirrors that don't have the
space for the DVDs or for other reasons wish not to carry them.
However, times are changing, and I think that many, if not most,
centos mirror operators would prefer to carry the DVD isos.  In fact,
I'd almost expect future major releases of CentOS (6+) to distribute
DVD isos instead of the CD disk 1 of xx isos.

So, I propose that the dvd-less mirror system is eliminated (all msync
mirrors carry DVDs).  No special ACLs either...  Its easy to add a
--exclude "*DVD*" to the rsync line for those that wish to not carry
the DVDs.  I also think that with sufficient announcement and time
(say 1-3 months), this shouldn't be an issue.  My understanding is
that officially its required for anyone who operates a CentOS mirror
to be subscribed to this list, and thus they should receive the
announcement.  In addition, a note can be added to the msync MOTD
conveying this.  If others have problems, I think the CentOS team
would have done their due diligence; the fault would rest with those
not paying attention to lists.  After all, all things change and
evolve, and I think this is a natural evolution for the CentOS mirror
team.

--Jim
Administrator, centos.eecs.wsu.edu.