[CentOS] A minor beef

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Thu, 2005-11-24 at 10:42 -0700, Collins Richey wrote:
> CentOS is a really great product, and the package supporters do a bang
> up job, but the one deficiency I've found is the fact that one can
> never rely on being able to get updates at any particular time.
> Whether it's CentOS proper or the Dag additions, something is broke
> most every time I want to apply updates.
> I know this is whin[ge]ing, and I certainly don't have a solution to offer.

I do.  If you want CentOS "proper," pay Red Hat for RHEL.  That's a
solution.  Although some might disagree with the value, I very much
agree with the value.  Both from the standpoint of what they give me
from a configuration management standpoint, as well as the number of GPL
projects their revenues fund.

Please don't take that the wrong way.  I absolutely applaud the CentOS
team for the continued and most excellent work, as well as the work done
by DAG and others.  We are honored by their sacrifices and hard work.

But if you find yourself having repeat issues, and it is really
important to you, I have to suggest you consider paying Red Hat.  I know
some here might disagree, but I have to at least say it.

Of course, I will also point out that if you're wishing for 3rd party
repositories to be perfectly aligned with CentOS, going RHEL isn't going
to help you much more there either.  So that's not quite a "full
solution" for you.

> If anyone can offer bucks and/or equipment to improved the software
> distribution process, your karma would get an enormous boost!!!

While I'm sure donations help, it's still "chump change" compared to
what Red Hat can pour into its development, testing and other services.
For the most part, SRPM rebuilds do come out fine in CentOS.  But every
now and then, it's not totally clean because there are assumptions or
differences in the build system that only the RHEL developers know.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith   b.j.smith at ieee.org   http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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