On Tuesday, 01 March 2005, at 11:03:35 (+1300), Darryl Dixon wrote: > Get real. :-) > Using epoch *is* doing it right. Why on earth should potentially > many 1000's of customers be forced to do something manually when the > mechanism already exists to do it automatically (epoch)? Computers > and software exist to work *for* us, not against us, and a stupid > arbitrary rule categorising epoch as 'bad' when doing this causes > real problems for people is just ludicrous. Epoch is useful, solves > a real problem, and isn't particularly hard to live with. What > exactly is the problem? The problem is that use of epoch completely nullifies package portability. For example: Crimson Headware, Inc., creates distribution X which is RPM-based and includes perl 5.00503. When perl 5.6.0 comes out, they realize that gross stupidity on the part of the perl packagers has resulted in 5.00503 being interpreted as 5.503, clearly newer than 5.6. Thankfully, epoch saves the day, so their customers can upgrade without manual intervention. Hallelujah. Crazed Free Software Lunatics, LLC, decides to create their own RPM-based distribution as an alternative to Crimson Headware Linux after the latter decides to start charging 3 quintillion doubloons per CPU. When they start, perl 5.8.1 is current, and the perl packaging deities have (thankfully) realized the error of their ways and will use proper versioning moving forward. Tragically, CFSL faces the following dilemma: Use Epoch which must not only match the current CH epoch but must also keep in sync with, if not ahead of, theirs; or do not use Epoch and disallow a "yum upgrade" from CH to CFSL. Then Whacky French Guys Co. arrives on the scene. Repeat ad infinitum. Michael -- Michael Jennings (a.k.a. KainX) http://www.kainx.org/ <mej@xxxxxxxxx> n + 1, Inc., http://www.nplus1.net/ Author, Eterm (www.eterm.org) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Temper is the one thing you can't get rid of by losing it." -- Jack Nicholson, "Anger Management" _______________________________________________ Rpm-list mailing list Rpm-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rpm-list
