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Slowing down Fedora Core

A discussion has been going on in the fedora-devel list, starting with this post from Gilboa Davara, requesting that Fedora Core 4 (FC4) remain supported, by the Fedora Project, until FC6 is released.

Last week FC3 went into maintenance mode with the Fedora Legacy Project, just as FC5 Test2 was released, as has been the typical schedule so far. The final FC5 release is scheduled for mid-March, about two months away.

According to this proposal, beginning with FC4, the Fedora Project would be responsible for supporting two releases while finalizing a third release. This would delay a transfer to Fedora Legacy for a few months and a few more bug fixes. Most of all, this proposal is an expression of concern about the Fedora Legacy Project's ability to support old releases.

It is true that a Fedora release does not receive the same level of support once it is transferred to Fedora Legacy. When the Fedora Project supports a release, they provide security updates, bug fixes, and occasionally upgrades and enhancements for various packages. These package updates can be seen in each weekly Distribution page, in the Package updates section. The Fedora Legacy Project provides security updates only.

So the level of support from Fedora Legacy is a bit less than that from the Fedora Project, but if it is only for a few months how much does that really matter? As long as your stable system can remain secure until you are ready for an upgrade, a few bug fixes aren't going to matter much. The volunteers building security updates for Fedora Legacy are competent and first and foremost they are building updates for themselves. They have a vested interest in making sure these updates work. Others should be able to benefit from their work, but those who want more from Fedora Legacy are encouraged to participate. Fedora Legacy is a community project, so those who want more from the project should be prepared to help accomplish their own goals.

It is also true that Fedora Legacy had a hard time getting up to speed. Early releases came into the Legacy project with large numbers of outstanding security problems. Both Fedora and Fedora Legacy have had some severe growing pains, and they are not finished ironing out the process. This transition was smoother than the last; FC3 has very few outstanding security issues. We should expect that as FC4 moves into its Legacy status, the process will be even smoother, especially if more people get involved and help out.

Some users expressed distaste with the word "legacy". The dictionary definition:

seems to capture the meaning of Fedora Legacy quite well, but for those who have worked on "legacy systems" this distaste is understandable. Many suggestions were given for changing the name of Fedora Legacy to something more palatable. Some of the suggestions were not bad, but ultimately people should ask themselves if they would rather have Fedora Legacy volunteers keep busy by updating the documentation, website, mailing list, and so on, to reflect a name change; or would their time be better spent maintaining the project's five currently supported releases (Red Hat Linux 7.3, Red Hat Linux 9, FC1, FC2 and FC3)? I would chose the later.

A more serious concern is that the process of moving to Fedora Legacy is difficult, or at least less than obvious. To begin with, users need to be aware that the status of their system has changed and that is time for them to make a decision of some kind. Should they decide not to upgrade, the move to Fedora Legacy requires that they change some configuration files to look at different repositories. There is nothing automatic about the process. A conscious decision must be made to either upgrade to the next Fedora release, or get support from Fedora Legacy. Users who wait for the little update icon to appear may unintentionally leave their systems at risk.

The Fedora Legacy Project is not insensitive to these concerns. Jesse Keating has proposed some changes for Fedora Legacy that will make an easier transition for users who want to continue running older releases. Fedora Legacy has come a long way since FC2 came into its care. It can be, and should be, even better by the time FC6 test2 is released and FC4 moves into its purview.

Fedora Core was envisioned as a fast moving distribution. Already it has slowed down, from six months between releases to nine+ months between FC4 and FC5. For those who like a slower pace, there are plenty of slower paced distributions available and for diehard Fedora fans, there is the Fedora Legacy Project.

For those people who argue that they should be able to skip a release and go from a supported FC4 to a supported FC6, ask yourselves this: would you really switch to FC6 on the day it's released? More likely you'd be asking for another month, and then another month after that. Meanwhile many Fedora users are happy with the current pace and would prefer that Fedora engineers spend the time between FC6 test2 and FC6 polishing FC6, not squashing old FC4 bugs.

Warren Togami expressed it quite well:

Fedora Core should remain fast-paced. When Fedora engineers are concentrating on finalizing a release they should not be burdened with maintaining two other releases. Fedora Legacy is working and it can and will get better, especially if more people volunteer their time to help. If Fedora is too fast paced for you, and you can't or won't help the Legacy project achieve your goals, find another distribution that moves at a slower pace. I have little list that might be helpful in that regard.

Comments (7 posted)

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