[Kolab-devel] Please get rid of OpenPKG (was: Re: Fwd: [ANNOUNCE] OpenPKG project diverges 2-STABLE branch)

[Michael Stucki]

Hi Bernhard,

(sorry for posting this multiply, for some reason it does not appear at
GMANE, that's why I'm not sure if the message was posted yet...)


Thanks for your feedback, sorry for the late reply.

> Am Donnerstag, 17. August 2006 13:04 schrieb Michael Stucki:
>> In my opinion the focus of Kolab to OpenPKG is one of the biggest
>> mistakes around Kolab.
> 
> this was discussed before: We would not have had the current Kolab
> solution, including the server implementation, if we would not have used
> OpenPKG. Furthermore: We are not focussed on OpenPKG.

This may be true: More users are trying out Kolab because it is easy to
install. However, looking at the problems I've mentioned, I suppose that
many of them are turning away from it after short time...

This is why I suggested to publish an extended Debian system for those who
like to start easily...

>> Currently I'm using Kolab on a Debian server with an additional instance
>> of Apache for serving additional websites. Although all this would be
>> possible within the Kolab environment, I want to stick to standardized
>> paths and configurations, just to make maintenance of this server easier
>> for myself.
> 
> You could consider OpenPKG path' more standard then Debian ones
> as they will hold across GNU/Linux and other operating system boundaries.

>From a Kolab developers view (who has many Kolabs where he can expect every
file at the same place) this may be true and makes life easier for you.

But from a system administrator this is definitely wrong. The whole system
is a huge foreign body, everything is different than elsewhere.

>> As far as I remember the reason for you choosing OpenPKG was that you did
>> need to make some changes to other products like Postfix.
> 
> This is not the main reason.
> The reason is the ability to provide a stable product which can be
> supported and do not interfere with the choice of host operating system
> that the customer has made.

...which requires the administrator to do duplicate work
...whose security state depends on the mood of the Kolab publishers
...which makes configuration harder for administrators, no matter what
distribution they have chosen.

> OpenPKG has many advantages over running a specific GNU/Linux
> distribution.

It also seems to keep motivations low to make seamless integration easier:

Would this list still exist if OpenPKG was not available?
https://www.intevation.de/roundup/kolab/merge?:columns=id,activity,title,creator,assignedto,status

- michael