mandrake-9.1 and RPM voting

[Guest ndeb]

According to http://www.mandrakeclub.com/article.php?si...mode=nocomments

rpm voting for the imminent 9.1 release is going to have a great impact on the tools included/excluded. However, rpm names also need brushing up quite a bit and the voters can use their votes to their advantage.

 

1. The rpm kernel-headers has always been wrongly named and it has confused a lot of users with the kernel-source rpm. Since the origin of kernel-headers is from the glibc source rpm, it should be called glibc-kernheaders (or a similar name that does not confuse it with kernel-source rpm). Redhat had made the same blunder but rectified it in their 8.0 release, in which they call it glibc-kernheaders.

 

2. Package the ALSA sound drivers in an rpm seperate from the kernel rpm for easy upgradability given that ALSA support is rapidly evolving and lots of users need support for integrated sound cards in VIA, SiS etc. chipsets, the support for which is always lagging behind user needs. I have discussed this in more detail in http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php?t=2061

How about a name like alsa-kernel-drivers or kernel-alsa-drivers ?

 

3. This is not directly related to rpms but about the install process. Redhat 8.0 (and 8.1beta) has this feature of verifying the checksums of the install cds prior to installation. This is a brilliant and very useful feature. The alternative is to check the md5sum in an existing OS (windoze or linux) which can be difficult and assumes the user already has a working system. Mandrake should add this feature as well.

 

If mandrake wants to make users happy and stay in business, it must at least match the good things of other competing distros.