Re: [gentoo-dev] overlay usage and maintainence [was: DistroWatch and Gentoo packages: status quo and future]

[Patrick Lauer <patrick@gentoo.org>]

On Sunday 13 September 2009 13:30:13 Thomas Sachau wrote:
> Richard Freeman schrieb:
> > Jesús Guerrero wrote:
> >> Most Gentoo users will have no problem to use overlays as they need
> >> them. If we had more developers we could as maintain more packages,
> >> as simple as that.
> >
> > I actually tend to agree with this position, however to use overlays as
> > a valid solution for end-users we need to do more to support them. Right
> > now it is at least a little painful to get set up with an overlay.
> 
> I dont see any problem with "emerge layman; layman -L; layman -a <your
>  preferred overlay>"

First issue: How do I find out in which overlay stuff is?
Second issue: "I want foopackage and barpackage, but not your hacked gcc"
Overlays can overshadow tree packages, which can have undesired effects.

> If developers create safe-to-use overlays, then i think, there is something
>  wrong. Those ebuilds shouldnt be hidden in any overlay, but instead be
>  added and maintained in the main tree.

Exactly. I've annoyed a few people by moving stuff from their overlay to the 
tree because it had been stuck in the overlay for ages and users were 
wondering why we had no new versions. /usr/portage is my overlay :)

[snip] 
> I think, this is the wrong direction. Instead of moving more and more
>  things into overlays, we should keep as much as possible in our main tree.
Yes. That's one of the reasons I used gentoo in the past ... no fractured 
overlay mess like on other distros. One tree to rule them all. Now things are 
a bit more complicated ...

>  With those two sets above removed, overlays would either contain breaking
>  stuff (playground for devs) or not checked ebuilds from users. For both
>  sets, the above ussage with layman should be easy enough.
Indeed. And everything else should go into the tree.
Also, everyone contributing regularly to an overlay (like X-Drum, who has done 
an awesome job at maintaining Virtualbox) should sooner or later be recruited 
to work on the Big Overlay instead.

Which points at another problem - our recruiting isn't as active as it should 
be. Maybe we should have the Sith rule of gentoo dev'ing ... "Always two there 
are, a master and an apprentice". It should be every dev's goal to have at 
least one recruit at most times :)

Or for those of you too lazy for that - do whatever you can to recruit your 
replacement. Once you've managed that you can be as lazy as you want!