[packman] Future of PackMan?

[Guido Berhoerster]

* Detlef Reichelt <detlef at die-mafia.de> [2012-01-01 22:56]:
> what should we do in the future? What is the goal of PackMan?
> 
> Should we build only multimedia and non crippled stuff for openSUSE?

I think that it isn't necessary to change the scope of Packman or
reduce the number of packages that are provided today but that a
reorganization and greater collaboration between openSUSE and
Packman would provide benefits to both maintainers and our users.
Currently Packman provides three categories of packages: software
which is not allowed in OBS (non-free but redistributable,
patented etc. mostly in Essentials and Multimedia), newer
versions of packages which are in the main distribution (in
Extra), and additional packages which are not in the main
distribution (in Extra, Games, Multimedia).
I'd suggest reorganizing the latter two categories by submitting
unique Packman packages to suitable OBS development projects and
subsequently Factory and by merging duplicate packges with their
OBS counterparts. If there is a demand for a backport and
continuous updates of a package it could be linked into a
dedicated Packman project similar to how media player packages
are already shared between OBS and Packman.  Having packages in
Factory has several advantages, it means additional reviews and
handling of security issues and packages are also made available
to people who don't want continuously updated backports.  In case
of duplicate packages having more or dedicated maintainers may
potentially lead to better maintained packages in the distro and
less work for packagers (the recently discussed claws-mail
package could become an example for that).
Since this is a volunteer project the feasability of the above of
course depends on the agreement and willingness of all Packman
contributors to put some effort into this.
-- 
Guido Berhoerster