[elrepo] kernel/kernel-lts separation

[Dag Wieers]

On Thu, 11 Oct 2012, Akemi Yagi wrote:

> On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 2:23 PM, Dag Wieers <dag at wieers.com> wrote:
>
>> I am not in favor of renaming the packages to kernel-lts (or anything but
>> kernel-ml). For all practical purposes, sticking to one name, but offering
>> (sub)repositories for the different versions offers everything.
>>
>> So I would propose this:
>>
>>   kernel-ml/
>>   kernel-ml/repodata/
>>   kernel-ml/3.0/
>>   kernel-ml/3.0/repodata/
>>   kernel-ml/3.8/
>>   kernel-ml/3.8/repodata/
>>
>> You can select the specific version you want to hook into, either the parent
>> directory if you prefer to stick with the latest, or one of the major
>> version repositories.
>
> I am trying to understand this concept of "sub-repositories". Using
> the above example, Elrepo will be offering new repositories named
> "kernel-ml-3.0" and "kernel-ml-3.8" ? When a user wants to install a
> 3.0.x kernel, he will run:
>
> yum --enablerepo=kernel-ml-3.0 install kernel-ml
>
> And when a new major version appears, it will be added as, say,
> "kernel-ml-3.9" and the elrepo-release package is updated to
> accommodate the new repository.
>
> Is this description correct?

Yes, so the repo configuration could offer the root-directory (kernel-ml) 
as well as the subdirectories (kernel-ml-3.0, kernel-ml-3.6) and it's up 
to the user to decide which one to enable. By default (as is now) all 
repositories are disabled.

Since the sub-directories are inside of the root kernel-ml directory, all 
packages are included in the kernel-ml repository. The selection of which 
stable release you want to hook into is made at the repository-level. So 
the added benefit is that you could possibly stay with 3.0, even when 3.2 
or 3.4 are available, or discontinued.

For those interested in getting the latest kernel-ml, they simply enable 
the root repository as is already the case.

The drawback is that if the 3.0 repository is no longer updated (because 
upstream discontinued support) the user will not receive newer updates. In 
the kernel-lt mechanism, you cannot make the selection to which stable 
release you want to hook into, as all kernel-ml and kernel-lt packages are 
in one repository (as I understood) so you always get the latest (either 
kernel-ml or kernel-lt, or both).

Another drawback is that the ELRepo configuration should reflect the 
repositories we offer, so a change is required if there is a change in 
what we offer.

-- 
-- dag wieers, dag at wieers.com, http://dag.wieers.com/
-- dagit linux solutions, info at dagit.net, http://dagit.net/

[Any errors in spelling, tact or fact are transmission errors]