[CentOS] Off topic list for centos please?

Sun Aug 28 16:29:58 UTC 2011
Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com>

On Sun, Aug 28, 2011 at 7:58 AM, Karanbir Singh <mail-lists at karan.org> wrote:
>
> I didnt imply holding postings back for moderation - but more along the
> lines of creating an identity for the list, and asking people to shift
> conversations to better suite the audience on there. And in those ways
> the -devel and -docs list are much more focused than the generic list here.

I think the missing piece is something like an EL-admin list.  That
is, one where people could discuss things that are common issues on
distributions based on RHEL and with access to the same set of 3rd
party package repositories.  That's not exactly Centos-specific, but
Centos users are probably the largest single collection with the most
experience, so the questions come up here - and sometimes it isn't
obvious at the start whether the problem relates to the distribution
packaging or an application.

The usual advice here for application-related issues is to go to the
application's own list, but there the first and sometimes only
response you will get is to 'upgrade to current' before discussing any
problems.    And that is seldom the right advice for EL-type distro
users.   Plus, there are often several different applications that can
be used for any purpose and choosing the right one based on others'
experiences should be the first step.

In any case, whether it should be managed by the Centos group or not,
users need a list where those questions aren't met with hostility and
the most likely response is a pointer to an appropriate packaged
application version (since most common problems have already been
solved somewhere).

I start with the view that the policy restrictions that make 3rd party
package repositories necessary and not referenced in the base distro
_are_ a Centos problem, even if inherited from upstream, so discussing
the workarounds here should be on topic, even if not Centos-specific.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com