Best stab at questions
by Stephen John Smoogen
I am playing ketchup, and saw these questions.. here are my take on
them as EPEL Steering Committee head.
Also note that while I use RHEL, I am meaning it as a short hand for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, Scientific Linux, etal.
> 1) How do appliances fit into EPEL?
EPEL is meant to be a repository for extra packages that do not get
shipped in EL but meet the 'same' packaging criteria as most Red Hat
Enterprise Linux "Core" packages do. This means that using EPEL as a
repository when building should help make integration easier.
> 2) Is RPM a requirement for EPEL?
Yes, all packages in EPEL are stored in RPM format.
> 3) If we deploy to EPEL, do all of the packages we depend on need to be in EPEL as well?
No. You could use packages in your appliance outside of EPEL, but in
the case of 'conflicts' it could cause problems in integration or
updates. Areas where I see packages not being in EPEL would be:
a) Other propietary packages.
b) Reliance on packages that do not meet EPEL's packaging structure
(putting things in /opt. Requiring packages that are 'newer' than RHEL
"Core" packages etc.
> 3a) If so, who is responsible for getting those packages into EPEL?
EPEL is a community project. We grow stronger with help and weaker
without it. If your company would be better off by having someone
spend some time a week making a package get into 'upstream' then you
would be an excellent candidate to help.
> 4) How is Fedora/Community prepared to help getting business applications into EPEL?
Applications that are in EPEL need to meet Fedora's packaging
standards plus RHEL standards. That means the code needs to be FLOSS
and also not conflicting with items that RHEL ships intact.
Thus if your application needs libwidget-1.7.1 and it is not in RHEL,
and the code is GPL, BSD, MitX, Apache, and/or MPL (plus a long list
Tom can go over) it can get included in EPEL. Then everyone else who
needs libwidget can benefit and they can report/fix problems that may
affect it. And you do not need to keep a separate package around in
your code base with your own patches etc.
A bad fit would be trying to include something that falls outside of
Fedora/RHEL standards. Trying to get kmod-Win95 ( a GPL kernel module
that loads in the windows 95 kernel) would not be ok since its outside
of Fedora/RHEL standards being that it is a kernel driver . Another
bad one would be a closed source code.
> 4a) Are there FTEs devoted to getting business applications into EPEL?
That is a Red Hat business decision I can't answer to.
> 5) Do you need to go through Fedora to get to EPEL?
Yes and no.. You need to sign the Fedora CLA and make sure the package
meets Fedora packaging and licensing standards. There may also be some
'rough' spots where we work out how to get it into EPEL but not in
Fedora proper if needed, but we will be filling out and testing those
methods soon with some compat packages.
--
Stephen J Smoogen. -- BSD/GNU/Linux
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed
in a naughty world. = Shakespeare. "The Merchant of Venice"
15 years, 10 months
what do you want to know about EPEL?
by Karsten Wade
I'm doing the final work on my presentation on EPEL[1] at the Red Hat
Summit, and I'm wondering if there any questions you all have I should
address?
Generally, the approach is to describe what EPEL is (and what it isn't),
and the various reasons why it is an important enough goal to warrant
doing whatever it takes to get software in to RPM.
Also, I'm going to touch upon some of the new work we are doing to
enable ISVs to be successful -- this SIG, the other sessions at the
Summit and FUDCon, etc.
Let me know if there is anything you'd want to hear more of, less of,
etc.
thx - Karsten
[1] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL
--
Karsten Wade, Sr. Developer Community Mgr.
Dev Fu : http://developer.redhatmagazine.com
Fedora : http://quaid.fedorapeople.org
gpg key : AD0E0C41
15 years, 10 months
Late to the party...
by Stephen John Smoogen
Sorry I didn't see this list til now... I am here to help.
--
Stephen J Smoogen. -- BSD/GNU/Linux
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed
in a naughty world. = Shakespeare. "The Merchant of Venice"
15 years, 10 months
ISV guide to the Summit
by Greg DeKoenigsberg
To all of our partner friends:
We've received a lot of inquiries from our partners about packaging their
software in RPM format for use with Fedora. With good reasons:
* Millions of Fedora users can install any RPM in the Fedora universe with
one simple command.
* RPM is the cornerstone of Linux systems management applications,
allowing sysadmins to manage a complete list of all software on their
systems, through many different tools.
* RPM is also the basis of much of the appliance work that Red Hat is
advancing. Putting your software into RPM format makes it much simpler to
build Live CDs, network install images, or even virtual appliances around
your software solution.
Any open source software provider can package their work as an RPM for
Fedora. Getting software into Fedora is not as easy as it could be, but
it's not that difficult, either -- and we are committed to working with
our partners to make it as painless as possible.
At the Red Hat Summit / Fedora User and Developer conference, developers
have unprecedented access to the knowledge of the Red Hat and Fedora
communities. For those who are interested specifically in learning how to
make the best use of RPM and Fedora, we would like to recommend the
following sessions:
* Topic: Fedora images and live CDs.
Presenter: Jeremy Katz
Time: Wednesday 6/18, 11:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Red Hat Summit Session Hall
* Topic: How to make good RPM packages
Presenter: Tom Callaway
Time: Wednesday 6/18, 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Location: Red Hat Summit Session Hall
* Topic: Building Appliances with the Red Hat Appliance OS
Presenter: Bryan Kearney
Time: Wednesday 6/18, 2:45pm - 3:45pm
Location: Red Hat Summit Session Hall
* Topic: Fedora packages for RHEL
Presenter: Karsten Wade
Time: Thursday 6/19, 2:45pm - 3:45pm
Location: Red Hat Summit Session Hall
* Topic: ISV Packaging Hackfest
Presenter: Various
Time: Thursday 6/19, 10am - 4pm
Location: Fedora Hackfest Area
* Topic: Java Packaging Hackfest
Presenter: Various
Time: Friday 6/20, 10am - 4pm
Location: Fedora Hackfest Area
Also, on Saturday 6/21, we will be holding the Fedora Users and Developers
Conference at Boston University, just minutes from the Hynes Convention Center.
FUDCons are the lifeblood of the Fedora community; every FUDCon draws the best
and the brightest of the Fedora community from all over the world. We urge
Summit participants who are interested in learning more about Fedora to attend
this exceptional conference. Learn more about FUDCon at:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon/FUDConF10
If you have any questions, please contact Greg DeKoenigsberg <gdk(a)redhat.com>,
Paul Frields <pfrields(a)redhat.com> or Max Spevack <mspevack(a)redhat.com> for
more information.
We look forward to seeing you at the Summit, and at FUDCon.
--g
15 years, 10 months
Hello?
by Greg DeKoenigsberg
Hi all. Just want to post to the list to see who's about. Holla back!
:)
--g
15 years, 10 months
