[PLUG] SUSE 10.1 and YaST

[Stuart Jansen]

On Tue, 2008-09-16 at 07:35 -0700, wes wrote:
> My beef is more that the packages are so version-dependent. This is nothing
> short of built-in obsolescence.

This is nothing short of a deliberate technical decision. Most of the
Linux community values access to source code over backwards
compatibility. Package version requirements are merely a reflection of
the reality that compatibility can not be assumed, it must be tested.
Doing so is expensive. Commercial options like RHEL and SLES provide
that service by backporting bug fixes, security updates, and even
certain features. Free distros simply don't have the resources.

Good or bad, the Linux community does things differently than the
proprietary world or even the BSDs. The Linux method is not designed to
make life hard for you, it is a collection of deliberate technical and
cultural responses to the complexity of software development.

> > I repeat, if you wanted long term support you should have payed for it.
> > Either with a support subscription, or else with your own hardware and
> > bandwidth.
> 
> Don't suppose you happen to have a DIY package repository howto handy...

Sixty seconds of quality time with Google turned up the following:
http://en.opensuse.org/Mirror_Setup_Howto
http://en.opensuse.org/Mirror_Infrastructure

Of course that's for a full fledged mirror. If all you want is personal
use, gather all the RPMs into a directory. Use createrepo to turn it
into a YUM repository. Register the repository with rug (rug sa).
Subscribe to the repository (rug subscribe).

I'm not interested in spending any more of my time writing a more
detailed set of instructions or searching for a better set of
instructions. It isn't hard, but I don't want to do enough work that you
start feeling I also owe you my free services.