> On Thu, 11 Feb 2021 at 13:39, Simon Matter <simon.matter at invoca.ch> wrote: > >> > On Thu, 11 Feb 2021 at 12:31, Simon Matter <simon.matter at invoca.ch> >> wrote: >> > >> >> > Le 11/02/2021 à 17:08, Simon Matter a écrit : >> >> >> But, I'm a bit shocked to find EPEL 8 in such a bad shape of >> >> brokenness >> >> >> and incompleteness >> >> > >> >> > I've come to the same conclusion. >> >> > >> >> > For the past couple years, my solution has been to use RHEL clones >> >> (CentOS >> >> > and >> >> > Oracle Linux) on servers only (multi-user.target). >> >> > >> >> > I've moved all my graphical installations (workstation, laptops, >> >> desktop >> >> > clients) to OpenSUSE Leap + KDE. >> >> >> >> In our situation it's not so easy to say server or client. We're >> running >> >> remote desktops over nx-libs, so, a server is also a client at the >> same >> >> time. >> >> >> >> I always new EPEL is not perfect but it was usable to some degree and >> >> that's why Red Hat told their customers about it and how to use it. >> But >> >> the current state of EPEL is sad. >> >> >> >> >> > EPEL is a volunteer driven repository and not many volunteers have >> been >> > available for EL8. Many of the past volunteers have retired or been >> > promoted out of positions they actually have time to do the work >> anymore. >> > Asking for replacements is not easy because most people who are >> interested >> > in EPEL just want the packages built. They have no want or clue to do >> the >> > work themselves and want someone else to do the work for them. This >> leads >> > to a lot of people expecting packages without anyone doing the work. >> >> I know what you mean but my case is a bit different. For ~ two decades >> I'm >> using Red Hat based distributions and built a large number of packages. >> There are even packages in RHEL which they took over from me with my >> permission. I'm maintaining quite a number of packages which sometimes >> also exist in EPEL but I always keep them up to date and available with >> the same version on all Red Hat based distributions of the past, even >> after EOL. Many of the packages are available as SRPMs to those >> interested. Usually we didn't use any critical package from EPEL because >> of the state of support it has. But it was handy to consume some slowly >> changing things like XFCE from EPEL. To find out now that even such >> things >> are now in a bad state is a bit sad. >> >> > My apologies, you did not deserve the rant, but the word 'sad' seems to > make me see red. I have been told things were 'sad' for EPEL from May of I didn't know others also called the current state 'sad' but that's what came to my mind when thinking about it. > 2019 until now over and over again. Unlike you, most of the people are > ones > who never volunteered a package but thought it was a 'given' that EPEL > would have all their packages for them. After more than a year of it.. it > is a tick and I should count to 100 before replying versus 50. > > In the end, it is a bad state of affairs, but I also think that it is how > things are going. There are a LOT of people who seem to expect that this > is > all for them FREE and that they can make as many demands as they want. > That > tires out volunteers and eventually you end up with what happened to all > the previous 3rd party repositories.. the volunteers stop showing up to > help out. So without a reason for people to volunteer or someone paying > the > 4+ people needed to do the work day in and day out, the repositories end > up > in a bad state. I'm just wondering why Red Hat as a company doesn't care more about what their paying customers get when using packages not found in RHEL. I think it's the worst experience of all compared to their competitors like Debian, Ubuntu or OpenSUSE. I'm quite sure this will drive more people away from RHEL in future than they think today. Simon