[CentOS] Re: OT - RPM queries [was Re: Firefox, Flash and Java on CentOS 4.1 x86-64]

[Phil Schaffner]

On Fri, 2005-08-12 at 22:11 +0200, Dag Wieers wrote: 
> On Fri, 12 Aug 2005, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> 
> > Karanbir Singh <Mail-Lists at karan.org> wrote:
> > > I agree with OT, your post had little use for someone who
> > > uses CentOS.
> > 
> > I don't know how many times I've posted something and people thought it 
> > was off-topic when it was only viewed that way because of their 
> > *IGNORANCE* -- not mine.  ;->

As the one who originally introduced "OT" to the thread subject, I would
like to apologize for any unintended offense to Bryan.  I meant OT for
the thread, not the list, and was glad of the rare opportunity to ANSWER
a question from him.  :-)

> 
> Now would be a good time to become paranoia :)
> 
>  >> Insert your conspiracy theory here <<

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean nobody's out to get you!
:-)

On Fri, 2005-08-12 at 15:53 +0100, Karanbir Singh wrote:
> I am sure you are aware of the fact that using these repo's on a
> CentOS Machine will cause you more damage than most people really
> want. Expect to reinstall the OS if you have those repo's enabled and
> run through a few pkg install cycles. And dont expect CentOS to
> provide you with any useful updates anymore.

Personally, I would find my CentOS4 desktops much less useful without
Dag and some other 3rd party repos (particularly karan.org and Dries),
and I certainly would have a hard time getting the wife and kids weened
from the Redmond OS without Java, Flash, downloaded music players, DVD
support, etc.  I realize there is always some risk involved with
deviating from the core distro, and avoid that on servers and critical
machines, but am willing to accept the risks for non-critical desktops.
Worst case, one can always do a fresh install, but I have been through
quite a few cycles of updates with
--enablerepo=<various_selected_3rd_party_repos> for a number of personal
and work machines without breaking things that badly (at least on CentOS
- FC is another story :-).

Judging from recent list traffic, many others have the same needs and
appreciate help on those topics.  (Just wish some of them would search
the archives.)

Phil