[Novalug] Idea for Meeting Topic - Novell OpenSuse Build Service

[Jay Hart]

I agree, somehow I get the impression that the current software model for
Linux is very similar to Microsoft's with the "if its new and shiny, they will
like it better then the old and glum look".  This doesn't say anything about
the quality of the software, and I guess really since I'm not developing or
contributing to developing any OSS, I guess I shouldn't complain.  But lately
on this list its seems that everyone is having problems just installing
distributions.

I'm sorry, that is unacceptable.  Maybe the model needs to be tweaked a bit to
come around to the idea that a stable version is better then a new shiny
untested version.  IOW, if it ain't broke, don't rev it.

I've been wanting to upgrade both my OpenSuse 10.2 and 10.3 boxes for a year
now, but nothing has come out that gives me a warm feeling it will work right,
right out of the box.  I just an "old semi broken system" in my opinion is
better then a "shiny new but can't install it so its broken" distro.

I was going to install Kubuntu 8.10 till people on this list had very strange
problems during the install.

MTC FWIW,

Jay
> How about they fix their own install problems first?
>
> The Software Management past of YAST, the component that selects which
> packages to install (Add/Remove Programs in RedHat, synaptic in Debian)
> is TOTALLY UNUSABLE!
>
> Yeah, it's Prettier, but Critical Functionality is Missing ad it's SLOW.
>
> I used to zip around the versions from SuSE 6 up to 10, but 11 is Terrib;e.
>
> If it's not Fun To Install and Maintain...
>
> 		It won't be Fun To Use.
>
> I'm spending my efforts elsewhere.
>
> JIM
>
> Bud Roth wrote:
>> Very interesting concept.  On the plus side, if I understand correctly,
>> it would allow you to pull in the newest version of cutting edge
>> programs and build a binary for your architecture for your distro.
>>
>> I guess the risk is that you'll be more likely to get hit by errors than
>> you would using the package that was developed and tested for your
>> distro.
>>
>> It'd be interesting to find out more.
>>
>> Bud
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 2009-02-17 at 09:15 -0500, John B. Holmblad wrote:
>>> All,
>>>
>>> I just learned about a www service that has been introduced as a part
>>> of the Opensuse project, which provides the capability for the user of
>>> the www service to build/package applications for any of a wide
>>> variety of Linux distributions and do so for a number of different
>>> processor architectures. Here for those interested is the url to the
>>> www page that introduces this service:
>>>
>>>     http://en.opensuse.org/Build_Service/
>>>
>>> In addition to working with Opensuse, it is designed to work with,
>>> Novell Suse, Fedora, Redhat, Centos, Debian, Ubuntu, and several other
>>> distributions.
>>>
>>> I became aware of this service due to a posting on the maemo
>>> developers  email group. Here is the url to  a www page that describes
>>> the use of this service to build an existing app (csync) to run on
>>> Maemo:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://lizards.opensuse.org/2009/01/27/build-maemo-apps-with-opensuse-buildservice-it-works/
>>>
>>> From what I can tell it is possible to localize the Opensuse Build
>>> Service by downloading the "toolkit" onto a server that is under the
>>> control of the user. In other words the user has the option to either
>>> a) use the www service to perform the build process, or b) create
>>> his/her own private instance of th service.
>>>
>>> Perhaps one of our members with contacts at Novell could get someone
>>> associated with Suse Linux to give a Novalug presentation on this
>>> service and, specifically, a tutorial on how to use it..
>>>
>>> --
>>> Best Regards,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> John Holmblad
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Televerage International
>>>
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>>>
>>> Information security, telecommunications, and information technology
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>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
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>>> primary email address:  jholmblad at aol.com
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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