Re: [Cooker] Some questions about Mandriva

[Thierry Vignaud <tvignaud@mandriva.com>]

Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net> writes:

> Q1. Packages
> How many "pieces of software" do you have in your distribution? Do you
> distinguish between "source packages" and "binary packages"? (if yes,
> give numbers for both).

- 22192 binary packages
- 9232 source packages

> Are there subdivisions in the set of packages (by kind of support,
> by "freeness")?

Yes. See below

> Are all packages supported the same way, or are there different
> levels of support?

we have:
- main: supported for security & bugfixes updates
- contrib: unsupported
- non-free: non free packages (eg: ati & nvidia drivers)

each of these is subdivised into:
- "release": officially released distro
- "updates": update packages (security or bug fixes)
- "backports": backports of new releases (eg: wine, firefox, ...)
- "testing": candidates for update packages

> (If different levels, how many packages are supported with each
> level?) Are some packages imported from another distribution, or are
> most of your packages done from scratch by your developers ?

most packages were done from scratch but from time to times we may
import a new package from another distro

> Q2. Your developers
> What's a "developer" in your distribution? How many developers do you
> have? How many of these developers were active in 2007? Does a company
> (which one?) employ a large number of developers? Do you have different
> "classes" of developers, or does everybody have the same access right to
> all your packages?

We have:
- developers working on our installer and our tools
- packagers (both internal people and external contributors)

Most packages are open to everybody but:
- the upload of a few critical packages is restricted
- some packagers (both salaried people & external contributors) have
  extra right regarding moving/removing packages, ...

> How do you integrate new developers? How do you handle contributors
> who don't have access rights to the archive? (is there some kind of
> mentoring/sponsoring system?)

They usually start by contributing patches, improvements and after a
while, if proved worthing, they got an account
 
> Q3. Developers and packages ownership

> What's the relationship between developers and packages? Does each
> package have an assigned developer, or can everybody modify all
> packages without stepping on anyone's toes? Are packages mostly
> maintained by teams, or by developers working alone?

Each package has a default package but most packages can be altered by
everybody (but some packagers prefer that any changes go through them
first)