Re: [Cooker] mozilla firefox 1.5 and dependencies

[Frederic Crozat]

Le lundi 09 janvier 2006 à 11:06 +0100, Laurent Suchet a écrit :
> Michael Scherer a écrit :
> 
> >Le Lundi 09 Janvier 2006 08:31, Laurent Suchet a écrit :
> >
> >>That is fine, but if you want to install only Galeon or for my example
> >>Avidemux you MUST install firefox (and the good version...).  So you
> >>must have 2 browsers even if you want to use only one... Or you must
> >>recompile the original sources that is not a very user-friendly way to
> >>say to windows users to choose Mandriva..
> >>
> >>Isn't it possible to separate things?
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >No, but this is worked upstream as far as i have heard.
> >
> >
> >  
> >
> >>For example avidemux needs in fact Spidermonkey javascript engine from
> >>mozilla, which is find in Firefox packages.... Isn't it possible to make
> >>a real library based install ? Separate generic libs from mandriva
> >>package to enable more compatibility ?
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >This is what we do usualy, so this has be tried.
> >And as you can see, it didn't worked, or it wasn't maintainable.
> >  
> >
> I'm aware of difficulties to maintain all those different packages, it 
> is not a depreciation of maintainer's job, I know that they are 
> over-stimulated.... and endless growing of softwares number is a mess to 
> deal with.
> 
> >  
> >
> >>I think it is a serious question and not only a flame one...
> >>It means also to my point of vue that if the actual system is
> >>maintained, all the dependant packages must be proposed at the same
> >>time... to avoid confusion.... Even if some packages are not in 'main'
> >>but perhaps in 'contrib' or 'plf'....
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >This is cooker. Thing are expected to break.
> >If you take a look from a stable release point of view, than, everything is 
> >upgraded at the same time ( because we release the distro as a whole ).
> >
> >  
> >
> >>There is a big deal for Linux with this sort of problem, as it is
> >>specific to Linux.
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >This problem is not specific to linux, it is visible in linux ( and free 
> >software for that matter). 
> >I doubt that microsoft release all of their dll at the same time to their 
> >developers, they just hide it from the public, while the aim of cooker ( and 
> >free software ) is to be open.
> >  
> >
> Yes, sure. Microsoft is not a good example in bug gestion....lol
> 
> >Of course, frederic could work alone, release all package upgradable in 3 
> >weeks, because it would not be faster, but you would believe that every went 
> >smoother.
> >  
> >
> I was not willing that frederic has to work alone...  I was just 
> wondering if a separate lib policy could facilitate the separate 
> maintainer's job... It seems not

Unfortunately, Firefox (or Mozilla) can't be splitted further than it is
at the moment (and I think we are still one of the only distribution to
split/share libnss/libnspr across ALL mozilla derivative packages), due
to firefox (and other app) code (it hasn't been really think to be
splitted).

There is work in progress (mainly by SUSE hackers) to use XULRunner as
the common layer under
firefox/thunderbird/nvu/galeon/epiphany/yelp/whatever, so patching bug
and packaging/upgrading would mean to only fix xulrunner and not
FF/TB/NVU.

I don't have time to work on it now (moreover it isn't stable yet) but I
really hope to put this in cooker, the sooner the better but I still
prefer to spend my time on this I really understand and fix and let the
SUSE dudes bang their heads on the big bugs first ;)

And when I see all the work remaining just to get FF 1.5 cooker package
at the same level of quality than the 1.0.x package, I'm sure I should
keep my focus on fixing current package than adding another potential
layer of instability to cooker.

It might be slower but it is the best way to get stable result at the
end (and this is also why I didn't push Firefox before holidays : work
to do to backport 2.12 for Club edition + fix needed for that.

-- 
Frederic Crozat <fcrozat@mandriva.com>
Mandriva