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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: Proposal: package split
From:       Harri Porten <porten () tu-harburg ! de>
Date:       1999-10-03 20:48:34
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"Dirk A. Mueller" wrote:
> 
> right, there is too much duplication in the CVS packages. IMHO it would
> be the best to decide which one we want to keep in the "main
> distribution" and we should create alternative packages for the others
> or drop them completely (not everything needs to be maintained in CVS).
> 
> IMHO we should decide what variant to keep and either move the others
> to other packages or drop them. It would be surely a good thing to keep
> the most successful apps in CVS and drop the others (i.e. compare kvirc
> with ksirc).

Mmmmh. I see your point but I want to stress that *my* intention was
almost the opposite. I proposed to break _up_ the packages (except the
libs and a base) not reordering them. All existing apps have a right to
be in the CVS and should be distributed in an equal manner. IRC client
A, B and C should fairly compete. If A sucks and B is not maintained
anymore C will make the race.

> If we drop the duplicates we have much more package space that could be
> filled with interesting programs that are currently distributed
> separately. We should distribute programs for as many purposes as
> possible and not trying to maintain so many duplicates.

Arranging the packages in a way that satisfies everyone is hard. Of
course, apps that don't work or compile will not make it into an
official release.

Additionally, I want to state a common scenario:

1.) we pick text editor I
2.) the author of editor II is frustrated cause his app will only be
used by 5% of all users.
3.) 6 months later, the author of editor I gets a job and development
stalls
4.) the fall-back editor II is in a poor state cause the developer had
no interest improving it due to poor feedback

Of course, duplicated efforts are not optimal but I strongly believe
that the better app will win in the long run, i.e. it will receive the
most attention and have future maintainers.

Please remember that duplicated apps were only one of my arguments. A
much stronger one IMO is the question why a KDE 1.1.1 user has to fetch
a 3 MB kdenetwork package if he just wants to upgrade to kbiff from
1.1.2.

Harri.

Advertisment: kppp users having installed pppd >= 2.3.7 should try the
automatic DNS assignment I just put into the CVS :)

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