Re: Yet another newbie

[bob kehs ksd org]

Spec files shouldn't be on the developers minds. It should be on the
tarballests minds. I dont mind compiling it myself. The thing is, I have
more  then one computer that has gnome on it. Rather then spending alot
more time compiling it on each computer, I generate the rpms on 1 computer
and install it on all of them. This saves me alot of time that I can use
elsewhere.

RPMS help new users get gnome up and running.
It is a shame to see all the hard work that has gone into gnome not  be
used because people cant get it working.

The more people that have gnome running at this point the better. The
biggest open source benifit is being ignored. The more eyes the more bugs
that can be fixed. It is my understanding that gnome was frozen so that
gnome 1.0 could be relieced bug free. The more eyes, the quicker the bugs
get squashed.

The rpm problem should not wait until gnome 1.0
The existance of rpms should speed up, and make shure a great reliese
of gnome 1.0 

On Sun, 7 Feb 1999, Dave Reed wrote:

> > From: Pedro Corte-Real <lreal@fe.up.pt>
> > Cc: bob@kehs.ksd.org, gnome-list@gnome.org
> > 
> > On Dom, 07 Fev 1999 03:34:45 Dave Reed wrote:
> > > > From: bob@kehs.ksd.org
> > > > 
> > > > my $.02
> > > > i dont care so much that gnome team dosn't produce RPMS. my largest amount
> > > > of time wasted is dealing with the tar.gz's that have bad specs or no
> > > > specs. It is a simple matter do make rpms with correct specs. Who ever
> > > > produces the tars needs to check that they have good specs. I would be
> > > > happy to donate my free cpu time building rpms for every one. I just dont
> > > > have time to build specs for everything.
> > > > 
> > > > As to rpms, GNOME is on this planet to make X more useable. RPMS do the
> > > > same. Therefore, RPMS, or the ability to make rpms from tarballs, should
> > > > be available. If gnome is to be widely used it needs to be easy to
> > > > install.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Geez, give the developers a break - it's still in beta.  I'm certain
> > > once 1.0 comes out someone will spend the time to put together RPMS
> > > that work, but with new releases coming out weekly, other things are
> > > more important - like fixing bugs!
> > > 
> > > Dave
> > 
> > We all know that. I and some other people just want .spec files to have
> > their version number up to date. That doesn't seem to happen so when
> > I'm building rpm's to install stuff for my laptop I get wrong version 
> > numbers and that eats up time. Just change the version in the spec file
> > when you change versions. And on cvs too. Thanks.
> 
> 
> First, let me clarify - I am NOT a developer (already working a 60
> hour a week job and just don't have time right now), but I do download
> the .tar.gz files and compile them myself.  It's really NOT that
> difficult to compile GNOME programs.  
> 
> tar -zxf file.tar.gz 
> cd into the directory
> ./configure
> make
> make install (as root)
> 
> My point was that while it's in beta and new versions are being
> released weekly, you can't expect the developers to be spending time
> writing spec files, but I am certain that when 1.0 comes out someone
> will take the time to write a correct spec file.  If you want a RPM
> now, volunteer to write the spec file - otherwise you'll have to wait
> until a developer (or someone else) has the time to do it.
> 
> I think you need to remember that most of the developers are doing
> this for free (yes, RedHat is paying some of them).  How easily we
> forget that good software used to cost money :-)
> 
> Not trying to start a flame war - just trying to point out that we
> need to be grateful to the developers for their volunteer work.
> 
> Dave
>