Seth Vidal <skvidal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Thu, 2008-08-21 at 10:01 -0500, Jima wrote: > > Horst H. von Brand wrote: > > > Also, some people I know stick to old versions for (closed source or > > > inhouse developed) software that is hard/impossible to port forward, or > > > just random inconsistencies between versions (automount troubles between > > > CentOS 5, CentOS 4, Fedora 8 and 9 here were a recent example; we are > > > working on open source related to the ALMA radioastronomy observatory, > > > there they are still running ancient Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions due > > > to software written in "C++" as understood by old GCC, newer GCCs just barf > > > at the code and rewriting/retesting that huge mess is a titanic job just > > > now really underway). > > > > > > On philosophical grounds, I'm against forcing people forward, even for > > > their own good... /encouraging/ them forward is a much better idea. > > > > Well, forcing people forward would be making the autodeath package (or > > whatnot) not removable. Even if it were installed by default (which > > would surprise me, admittedly), one could always remove or disable it. > > Let's be very clear, In my original suggestion I said I would NOT > recommend installing this package by default. > > that's not w/ a capital no. :) OK, understood. But it gives out free rope for later hanging... i.e., I go ahead and install shiny new Fedora 11 + autodeath (cool new feature, "I'll never paint myself into a corner" are famous last words, and all that), and forget about it... some 2 years later, the machine has acquired barnacles in form of un-forward-portable stuff, Fedora 13 shows up and the system kills itself. If anything, do a nag screen when EOL nears, offer to set up for upgrade, show (current) pointers to scripts helping check if 3rd party stuff will still work, ... install /that/ by default, allow to disable/uninstall it (even while it is nagging). -- Dr. Horst H. von Brand User #22616 counter.li.org Departamento de Informatica Fono: +56 32 2654431 Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria +56 32 2654239 Casilla 110-V, Valparaiso, Chile 2340000 Fax: +56 32 2797513 -- fedora-devel-list mailing list fedora-devel-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
